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THE  STORY  OF  THE  NATIONS 

VEDIC  INDIA 

AS  EMBODIED  PRINCIPALLY   IN  THE   RIG-VEDA 


BY 
ZENATdE    a.  RAGOZIN 

MEMBER   OF   THE    "  ROVAL    ASIATIC   SOCIETY    OF  GREAT   BRITAIN   AND 

Ireland";  of  the  "American   oriental  society";  of  the  "soci^Tfi 

ETHNOLOGIQUE  "    OF    PARIS,    ETC. 

AUTHOR   OF   "the    STORV    OF    CHALDEA,"     "tHE   STORY   OF  ASSYRIA" 

"the    story   OF    MEDIA,    BABYLON,    AND   PERSIA,"   ETC. 


"  He  [Carlyle]  says  it  is  part  of  his  creed  that  history  is  poetry,  could  we  tell  it 

right."— Emerson. 

"  Da  mihi,  Domine,  scire  quod  sciendum  est." — "  Imitation  of  Christ." 
("  Grant  that  the  knowledge  I  get  »iay  be  the  knowledge  zvorth  hatnng.^' — 

Matthew  A  rnold^s  version . ) 


NEW  YORK 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

LONDON:  T.  FISHER  UNWIN 
1902 


/ 


» 


397SS 
Discardeil 


Copyright,  1895 

BV 

G.   P.   PUTNAM'S  SONS 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 

By  T.  FISHER  UNWIN 


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PREFACE. 


The  present  volume,  as  originally  planned,  was  to 
have  included  the  post-vedic  or  Brahmanic  period, 
and  to  have  borne  the  title  of  Story  of  Vedic  and 
BraJunanic  India.  The  overwhelming  mass  of 
material,  however,  made  it  impossible  to  keep  to  the 
original  plan,  except  at  the  cost  of  lucidity,  com- 
pleteness, interesting  detail,  and  all  the  quaHties  that 
go  to  make  a  book  with  any  claim  to  popularity. 
Nothing  remained  but  to  divide  the  subject-matter 
into  the  two  halves  into  which  it  naturally  separates, 
and  leave  the  Story  of  BraJinianic  India  to  the  im- 
mediately following  volume,  which  will  embrace  the 
results  attained  by  the  study  of  the  Atharva-Veda, 
the  Brahmanas,  the  Upanishads,  the  Laws,  and  a 
synopsis  at  lea'st  of  the  great  epics. 

Z.  A.  R. 


CLASSIFIED  CONTENTS. 


The  Wonderland  of  the  East 
§§  1-2.  General  description  of  India. - 


3-4. 


PAGE 

1-47 
The  Hinia- 
Famines. — 


laya. — §  5.  Monsoons  and  rainfall. — §§  6-7 
§8.  The  Vindhya.— §  9.  The  Ghats.— §§  lo-ii.  Forests 
and  their  destruction. — §  12.  The  Deodar — §  13.  The  Ficus 
Indica,  or  Banyan. — §  14.  The  Ficus  Religiosa,  or  Pippala. 
—  §15.  Other  vegetable  products. — §  16.  Exuberant  vege- 
tation and  its  causes. — §  17.  Some  domestic  animals. — §  18. 
Tigers  and  snakes. — §  19.  Insect  world. — §  20.  Mineral 
wealth. — §21,   Isle  of  Ceylon, 

II. 

The  Aryas 48-76 

§§  1-2.  Parallelism  between  the  Aryas  of  India  and  Eran. — 
§  3.  Method  of  work. — §§  4-7.  The  Aryas  before  the  sepa- 
ration.— §§8-ii.  Words  the  only  monuments.  Beginnings 
of  Sanskrit  scholarship. — §  12.  The  Root  in  philology. — 
§  13,  Words  as  factors  in  prehistoric  reconstruction. — §§  14— 
15.  The  Cow. — §  16.  Mistaken  notions  concerning  remote 
antiquity. — §§  17-23.  Sanskrit  word-studies. — §  24,  Uncer-  - 
tainty  as  to  the  Aryas'  primeval  home, 

III. 


The  Sources  of  our  Knowledge  . 

The  English  East  India   Company. 


.      77-102 

I.    1  he  English  East  India   Company. — §  2.   The  Portu- 
guese East  India  Company. — §  3.   The  French  East  India 


vi  CLASSIFIED   CONTENTS. 


Company. — §  4.  Warren  Hastings's  humane  views. — §  5. 
Hampered  by  ignorance  of  the  people  and  country. — §  6. 
Sir  William  Jones. — §  7.  His  accidental  discovery  of  the 
Hindu  Drama. — §8.  Its  character. — §9.  Its  golden  age. 
Kalidasa.  —  §10.  "The  Ring  of  Shakiintala." — §  !!• 
"  Vikrama  and  Urvasi." — §  12.  First  results  of  Sanskrit 
scholarship. — §  13.  Character  of  Hindu  Poetry. — §§  14-15. 
Brief  survey  of  Sanskrit  Literature. — §§  16-17.  Difficulties 
encountered  by  the  first  Sanskrit  scholars. — §§  18-19.  H.  T. 
Colebrooke  and  Ch.  Wilkins. — §20.  Great  development  of 
Sanskrit   scholarship. 

IV. 

The  Vedas .  103-130 

§  I.  India  specially  identified  with  the  history  of  Aryan 
thought  and  speech. — §2.  Indo-Eranian  period. — §3.  The 
separation. — §§  4-5.  The  Penjab,  or  Saptah-Sindhavah,  and 
its  rivers. — ^  6.  Early  Aryan  life  in  the  Penjab. — §  7.  Race 
conflict  between  Aryas  and  natives.  —  §8.  The  Rig-Veda- 
Samhita. — §9.  Earliest  religious  life  of  the  Aryas  in  India. 
The  Rishis. — §  10.  The  Yajur-Veda  and  the  Sama-Veda. — 
§  II.  The  Atharva-Veda. — §  12.  The  text  of  the  Rig- Veda. 
Memorizing. — §  13.  Necessity  of  commentaries. — §§  14-15. 
The  Brahmanas. — §  16.  Shriiti,  "  Revelation." — §  17. 
Smriti,  "Tradition,"  "  The  Vedangas. — §18.  The  Sutras, 
— §  19.  Shrauta-SAtras  and  .Swar/tz-Sutras.  Great  im- 
portance attached  to  the  study  of  language  and'  metre. — 
§  20.   The  periods  of  Vedic  Literature. 

V. 
The  Rig-Veda  :  the  Older  Gods  .        .        .  131-187 

§§1-2.  Generalcharacterof  the  Rig- Veda. — §§3-4.  Chiefly 
Naturalism.  The  birth  of  Myths. — §  5.  Dyaus  and  Prithivi, 
"  Heaven  and  Earth." — §  6.  The  root  Div  ;  Dyaus  ;  Deva  ; 
Asura. — §  7.  How  names  become  gods. — §  8.  Varuna,  the 
Sky. — §  9.  Varuna,  the  King. — §  10.  Varuna,  the  ruler  of 
\\\&  h\.vAO'^-^\\tXG  (antariksha). — §11.   Hymns  to  Varuna. — 


CLASSIFIED   CONTENTS.  .  vil 

PAGE 

§  12.  Varuna,  the  keeper  of  Rita  (the  Cosmic  Order  and  the 
Moral  Law. — §  13.  Varuna,  the  punisher  and  forgiver  of  sins. 
— §  14.  Mitra  and  Varuna.  Later  aspects  of  Varuna. — 
§§15-17.  Aditi  and  the  Adityas. — §18.  Agni  Fire. — §19. 
Agni,  the  friend  of  men,  the  messenger,  the  hotar  (priest). 
§  20.  The  Birth  of  Agni. — §  21.  The  three  abodes  of  Agni ; 
Apam-Napat,  (the  Son  of  the  Waters). — §  22.  Agni's 
descent  with  the  rain. — §  23.  The  finding  and  bringing  of 
Agni. — §  24.  Agni's  kinship  with  the  race  of  men. — §  25. 
The  funereal  Agni. — §  26.  Soma,  the  Eranian  Haoma. — 
§  27.  Soma  the  plant. — §  28.  The  pressing  of  the  Soma 
plant  and  preparation  of  the  sacrificial  Soma-drink, — §  29. 
The  celestial  Soma — the  Amrita  (drink  of  immortality). — 
§§  30-32.  Soma  the  Moon.  Mysticism  of  the  Soma-worship. 
— §  33'  Vivasvat  and  his  son  Yama. — §  34.  Vama,  King  of 
the  Dead.  The  Sarameya  Dogs. — §  35.  Later  aspect  of 
Yama. — §  36.  Yama  originally  the  Moon.  His  brother 
Manu,  the  progenitor  of  the  human  race. — §  37.  Vayu  or 
Vata,  the  Wind. — §38.  Closing  remarks. 

Appendix  to  Chapter  V 187-190 

The  Churning  of  the  Amrita. 

VI. 

The  Rig-Veda  :  the  Storm-Mvth. — The  Sun- 

and-Dawn  Myth 191-236 

§  I.  The  Atmospheric  Drama. — §2.  The  sacredness  of  the 
Cow. — §  3.  The  Cloud-Kine.  The  Drought-Fiends, — 
§4.  Atmospheric  battles. — §5.  Anthropomorphism. — §6. 
Indra,  the  champion  fighter  and  Soma-drinker. — §  7.  The 
leader  and  war-god  of  the  Aryas. — §§  8-10.  The  dispenser 
of  wealth. — §§  11-12.  Rivalry  between  Indra  and  Varuna. 
— §  13.  Indra's  stormy  infancy. — §  14.  Harmony  restored. 
— §§15-19.  Parjanya,  the  Storm-god. — §20.  Rudra. — §21. 
The  Maruts. — §  22.  Indra  and  the  Maruts  quarrel. — §§ 
23-25.  The  Sun-and-Dawn  Drama. — §§  26-27.  Surya,  the 


CLASSIFIED    CONTENTS. 


Sun. — §  28.  Indra  and  Surya. — §  29.  Indra  and  Ushas. — § 
30.  Ushas,  the  Dawn. — §  31.  The  Two  Sisters. — i^  32. 
Ushas  and  Surya. — §33.  Ushas,  "the  Mother  of  Cows." 
— §  34.  Ushas,  the  dispenser  of  wealth. — §§  35-38.  The 
Ashvins.  the  Twilight  Twins. — §  39.   Pushan. 


VII. 

The  Rig-Veda  ;  Later  and  Lesser  Gods. — 

Story-Myths  .....  237-273 

§  I.  Drawbacks  and  advantages  of  Classification. — §  2. 
"  Later"  gods — how  to  qualify  the  expression. — §  3.  Vague- 
ness about  the  rank  of  gods. — §4.  Vishnu.— §§  5-7.  Savitar. 
— §§  8-10.  Tvashtar  and  the  Ribhus. — §  11.  Probable 
original  identity  of  Tvashtar  and  Savitar.  Myth  of  the 
Ribhus  explained. — §  12.  Tvashtar,  Indra's  father, — §§  13- 
14.  Myth  of  the  Birth  of  the  Ashvins. — §§  15-16.  Myth  of 
Sarama  and  the  Panis. — §  17.  Transformation  of  nature- 
myths  into  spiritual  and  sacrificial  ones. — §  18.  Brihaspati 
or  Brahmanaspati,  "the  Lord  of  Prayer," — §§19-20.  Dei- 
fied mythical  abstractions  :  Prajapati  ;  Vishvakarman  ; 
Hiranyagarbha,  and  others — §  21.  Scarcity  and  insignifi- 
cance of  feminine  deities. — §  22.  The  Waters  and  Rivers. — 
§  23.  The  divine  Sarasvati  ;  probably  at  one  time  the  Indus, 
and  still  earlier  the  Eranian  Haraqaiti. — §  24.  Sarasvati, 
the  goddess  of  eloquence  and  sacred  poetry. — §  25.  Vach, 
deified  Speech. — §  26.  Aranyani,  the  Forest. 

VIIL 

The  Rig-Veda  :  Early  History    .         .         .  274-334 

§§  1-3.  The  Four  Castes. — §  4.  Caste  not  mentioned  in 
the  Rig- Veda,  except  in  the  Purusha-Siikta. — §§  5-6.  Aryas 
and  Dasyus. — §  7.  Dasyus,  several  native  tribes  and  races. 
— §  8.  Kolarians  and  Dravidians. — §  9.  Manners  and  re- 
ligion of  the  Kolarians. — §  10.  Dravidian  Serpent-worship. 
— §11.    Snake-festival. — §12.    Dravidians    in    Aryan    epic 


CLASSIFIED   CONTENTS.  IX 

PAGE 

tradition.  — §  13.  Modern  savage  tribes. — §14.  The  Rig- 
Veda  not  all  myth. — §§  15-16.  Historical  material  in  the 
Rig- Veda. — §  17.  Connection  between  Dravidian  India  and 
Chaldea. — §  18.  Dravidian  export  trade. — §  19.  Dravidians 
a  Turanian  race. — §20.  Language  not  a  sure  indication  of 
race.  —  §  21.  Non-Aryan  races  and  language  the  majority  in 
India. — §  22.  Aryan  conquest  not  all  effected  by  force. — 
§  23.  Aryan  propaganda  carried  oii_by  the  priests. — §  24. 
The  Gayatri. — §  25.  Vasishtha  and  Vishvamitra  :  narrow 
Orthodoxy  against  broad  Liberalism — §26.  The  "Five 
Races,"  or  "  Five  Tribes." — §  27.  The  Tritsu  and  the 
Puru. — §28.  Indra  invoked  by  both  Aryas  and  Dasyus. — 
§  29.  The  Confederacy  against  the  Tritsu. — §  30.  Vishva- 
mitra's  hymn  to  the  Rivers. — §  31.  Battle  of  the  Ten  Kings. 
— §  32.  Aryan  supremacy  established. 


Appendix  to  Chapter  VIII.    ....  335-348 

The  Story  of  the  Flood  in  India  (the  Matsya  Avatar). 

§  I.  Various  versions  of  the  Flood  Story  in  Indian  Litera- 
ture.— §2.  Version  in  the  Shatapatha-Brahmana. — §3.  In 
the  Mahabharata. — §  4.  In  the  Matsya  Purana. — §  5.  In  the 
Bhagavata  Purana. — §  6.  Points  of  similarity  with  the 
Chaldean  story. — §  7.  Traces  of  the  Flood  Story  in  Folk- 
lore. 


IX. 


The  Rig-Veda  :  Early  Culture  .         .        .  349-381 

§  I.  General  picture. — §  2.  Aryan  funeral  rite  in  the  Rig- 
Veda. — §§  3-5.  In  the  Grihya-Sutras. — §§6-8.  Belief  in  a 
Future  Life. — §9.  The  Pitris — Fathers. — §§10-13.  The 
Aryan  Marriage-rite.  Exalted  position  of  the  wife  in  the 
Rig- Veda.  —  §  15.  Gambling.  — §§  16-17.  Vasishtha's 
"  Cursing  Hymn." — §  18.  The  Healer's  Song. — §  19. 
Various  pursuits  of  men. — §  20.  Closing  remarks. 


X  CLASSIFIED   CONTENTS. 

X. 

PAGE 

The  Rig-Veda  :    Sacrifice     ....  382-413 

§  I.  Importance  of  Sacrifice. — §§  2-3.  Dakshind — "Lar- 
gess "  to  the  priests. — §  4.  Excessive  claims  of  the  priests. — 
§§  5~6.  Sacrifice  a  spell. — §§  7-8.  Sacrifice  an  imitation  of 
the  heavenly  phenomena  of  Light  and  Rain. — §  9.  Its  com- 
pelling power  over  these  phenomena. — §§  lo-ii.  The 
heavenly  phenomena  a  celestial  sacrifice,  the  exact  counter- 
part of  the  earthly  sacrifice. — §§  12-13.  Who  are  the  celes- 
tial sacrificers? — §§  14-15.  To  whom  is  the  celestial  sacrifice 
offered? — §16.  The  Ashvamcdha — Horse  sacrifice. — §17- 
The  Purushamedha — Human  sacrifice. — §  18. — Legend  of 
the  abolition  of  bloody  sacrifice. — §  I9.  The  story  of 
Shunahshepha. 

XI. 

The  Rig- Veda  :  Cosmogony  ;   Philosophy. — 

Retrospect    414-439 

§  I.  The  questioning  mood  of  the  Rig  poets. — §  2.  How 
was  the  world  made  ? — §  3.  Cosmogonic  theories — §  4.  The 
Sacrifice  theory.  —  §  5.  The  Purusha-Siikta.  —  §  6.  The 
Atman  or  Self — The  First-Born. — §  7.  The  One  Unborn. 
— §  8.  The  great  Cosmogonic  hymn,  X.,  129. — §  9.  Mono- 
theism in  the  Rig- Veda. — §  10.  Henotheism  or  Kathenothe- 
ism — Promiscuous  identifications  of  gods  with  one  another 
— Underlying  monotheistic  tendency. — §  11.  The  riddle  of 
the  Rig- Veda. — §  12.  Its  solution :  the  Aryas  of  the  Rig- 
Veda — Fire-Worshippers. — §§  13-15.  Retrospect — Results. 

Principal  Works  Read  or  Consulted  in 
the  Preparation  of  the  Present 
Volume 441-444 

Index ,        .  445-457 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


THE  CONQUEST  OF    LANKA,   BY  THE    ARYAN  HINDUS, 

(from  THE  ramayana)    .         .         .         Frontispiece 
MAP facing   I 

A  RIDGE  OF  HIMALAYA' 5 

VIEW  FROM  THE  EAST  TOP  OF    KANCHANJANGA'         .  7 

TAMBUR  RIVER  AT  LOWEST  LIMIT  OF  firs'         .            .  II 
A  VIEW  IN  DEKHAN  ;    THE  GHATS  '    .            .            .            .17 

A  VIEW  IN  THE  MYSORE  (dEKHAn)  *             .            .            •  ^9 
A    BANYAN    GROVE   SHELTERING    A    SETTLEMENT   OF 
HINDU     FANATICS     PRACTISING      ASCETIC     AUS- 
TERITY       ........  25 

CLASPING  ROOTS  OF  THE  WIGHTIA  *              ...  28 
LIVING  BRIDGE  (hIMALAYAN  FORESt)  '       .            ,            -31 

TAME    LEOPARDS    TRAINED     FOR     HUNTING READY 

FOR  THE  CHASE 37 

PRIMEVAL  FOREST  ;    MONKEYS    SCARED    BY    A  LARGE 

SNAKE         ........  41 

LANDSCAPE  AT  THE  FOOT  OF  THE  VINDHYA      .            .  43 

A  LANDSCAPE  IN  LAHORE  (pENJAb)  ^           .            .            .  I05 

SOURCES  OF  THE  GANGES  ^ IIO 


'  From  Hooker's  Himalayan  yournals. 

*  From  Heber's  Indian  Jotirnal.     John  Murray  :  London. 

*  From  Lefmann's  Geschichte  des  alien  Indiens.      Muller,  Grote,  & 
Paumgartel :  Berlin. 


Xll 


ILL  USTRA  TIONS. 


THE  GANGES  AT  GANGATRI 

DYING  HINDU  BROUGHT  TO  THE  GANGES  TO  BREATHE 
HIS  LAST    .... 

the  soma  plant  '  . 

the  churning  of  the  amrita 

the  sixth  avatar   (or   vishnu   incarnate   as 

parashu-rama) 
brahmans  of  bengal'  . 
low-caste  bengalese  °  .. 
primitive  stone  monuments 
santal  types  "^ 
festival  of  serpents''  . 
gondh  types '^ 
ancient  type  of  dwellings 

himalayas 
ancient  type  of  dwellings 

HEAD  OF  ANCIENT  CHALDEAN  (aBOUT  40OO  B.C.) 
RECEPTION  OF  A  GURU,  OR  SPIRITUAL  INSTRUCTOR 
THE  SHATADRU,  OR  SHUTUDRI  (sUTLEj)  ' 
THE    MATSYA-AVATAR,    OR    FIRST    INCARNATION    OF 

VISHNU,  IN  THE  FORM  OF  A  FISH 
CANNES  AND  THE  GOD  EA  .  .  . 

SACRIFICIAL  IMPLEMENTS  "... 
SACRIFICIAL  DISHES,  GRASS,  WOOD,  ETC.  * 
PART  OF  A  HORSE — SACRIFICE  PROCESSION 


IN  NORTHERN  INDIA 


DISCOVERED    IN    THE 


PAGE 
III 


169 
189 

282 
283 
289 
291 

297 
301 

345 
347 
354 

355 
404 


'  From  Lefmann's  Geschichle  des  alien  Indiens.       Muller,  Grote,  & 
Baumgartel :  Berlin. 

*  From  Rousselet's  India.     J.  S.  Virtue  &  Co.  :  London. 
'  From  Hooker's  Himalayan  yournals, 

*  From  Fergusson's  Tree  and  Serpent  Worship. 


• 


c 


VEDIC    INDIA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE   WONDERLAND   OF   THE   EAST. 

T.  "  .  .  .  And  I  saw  the  blue,  holy  Ganges,  the  eternally  radi- 
ant Himalaya,  the  gigantic  banyan-forests,  with  their  wide  leafy 
avenues,  in  which  the  clever  elephants  and  the  white-robed  pilgrims 
peacefully  wander  ;  strangely  dreamy  flowers  gazed  at  me,  with  mys- 
terious meaning  ;  golden,  wondrous  birds  burst  into  glad,  wild  song  ; 
glittering  sunbeams  and  tlie  sweetly  silly  laugh  of  apes  teased  me 
playfully  ;  and  from  distant  pagodas  came  the  pious  strains  of  pray- 
ing-priests.     ,     .     .      "  ' 

Only  a  poet's  day-dream  ;  but  how  telling  each 
feature  of  the  fanciful  picture  ;  and  how  each  quaintly 
worded  sentence  lifts  you  out  of  the  screechy,  glary 
reality  of  steam  whistle  and  electric  light,  till  the 
few  perfect  lines,  like  the  richly  patterned  flying-rug 
of  Oriental  story,  land  you  in  the  very  midst  of  that 
world  of  mystery  and  enchantment,  of  gorgeousness 
and  twilight,  restful  at  once  and  exciting,  which  the 
name  India  has  always  represented  to  the  Western 
mind. 

'  Heine  (prose  works). 


2  VEDIC  INDIA. 

2.  Another  world  ;  a  world  in  itself.  That  is  what 
India  pre-eminently  is,  and  therein  lies  the  charm. 
The  word  has  been  said  and  repeated  times  out  of 
number,  yet  seldom  with  a  full  realization  of  the  literal- 
ness  and  extent  of  its  truth.  Not  even  an  attentive 
survey  of  the  map  is  sufficient  to  impress  it  on  the  mind 
anything  but  vaguely.  Comparison  and  a  few  figures 
are  needed  to  create  a  clear  and  definite  perception. 
Nothing  less  will  convince  us  that  we  have  to  do  not 
with  a  country,  but  with  a  continent,  and  that  we 
can  no  more  speak  of  the  climate,  the  people,  the 
language  of  India,  in  the  singular,  than  of  those  of 
Europe — which  it  very  nearly  equals  in  size.  For  a 
line  drawn  from  the  mouths  of  the  Indus  to  those  of 
the  Ganges  gives  the  distance  between  Bayonne  (on 
the  Atlantic  coast  by  the  Pyrenees)  and  Constanti- 
nople ;  while  another,  stretched  from  the  northern- 
most angle,  just  where  the  Indus  turns  southwards, 
to  Cape  Comorin,  equals  in  length  that  from  Arkh- 
angelsk on  the  White  Sea  to  Naples.  Nor  would 
the  latter  line  take  in,  by  a  great  deal,  the  entire 
length  of  the  Isle  of  Ceylon,  which  is  itself  not  very 
much  smaller  than  Ireland.  Were  we  to  include  the 
extreme  Northeast  (Assam)  and  the  Indian  lands  east 
of  the  mouths  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Indian  Ocean 
— (Burma,  Siam,  etc.) — we  should  obtain  even  more 
imposing  parallels ;  but  we  are  not  concerned  in  the 
present  work  with  more  than  the  great  western  penin- 
sula,— nor,  strictly  speaking,  with  the  whole  of  that ; 
since  the  beginnings  of  political  and  social  life  and 
the  spiritual  development  in  religion  and  philosophy, 
that  are  to  be  our  theme,  were  perfected  almost  en- 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  3 

tirely  within  the  northern  half  of  it.  This  at  various 
periods  received  divers  expressive  and  significant 
native  names,  but  it  is  found  convenient,  in  our 
own  time,  to  gather  it  under  the  general  appella- 
tion of  Hindustan,  roughly  bordered  in  the 
south  by  the  ViNDHYA  MOUNTAINS,  a  chain  of 
several  ridges,  which  stretches  across  the  continent 
and  divides  it  into  two  pretty  even  halves.  All  that 
lies  south  of  the  Vindhyas  is  no  less  sweepingly 
designated  as  Dekhan.'  For  general  purposes  this 
simple  division,  though  somewhat  arbitrary,  does 
excellently  well.  Even  after  a  careful  survey  of  these 
proportions,  it  comes  home  to  us  with  something  of 
a  shock  when  we  are  told  that  the  population  of 
India  (the  western  peninsula  alone)  amounted  in 
1872,  on  the  showing  of  the  census  taken  that  year, 
to  over  250,000,000  (not  including  Burma),  or  about 
one  sixth  of  the  entire  human  race. 

3.  But  extent  and  numbers  do  not  alone,  nor  even 
chiefly,  go  to  produce  the  imposing  impression  we 
associate  with  the  name  of  India.  It  is  the  various 
features  of  its  physical  geography,  and  especially  its 
mountain  scenery,  that  make  of  it  a  vision  of  glory 
and  majesty.  Some  countries,  like  Babylonia  and 
Egypt,  are  what  their  rivers  make  them.  India — 
physically  and  intellectually — is  the  creation  of  her 
Himalaya.  Never  was  wall  of  separation  more 
towering,  more  impassable,  raised  by  nature.  Scarcely 
an  opening  along  the  immense  extent  of  this,  the 
most  compact  and  highest  range  in  the  world,  yields 
a  passage  to  either  the  rude  winds  or  ruder  peoples 

*  "  South  Country,"  corrupted  from  "  Dakshinapati." 


4  VEDIC  INDIA. 

of  the  North.  For  ages  Eran  and  Turan  might  roam 
and  fight,  and  settle  and  migrate,  across  and  athwart 
that  vast  table-land  of  Central  Asia,  itself  the  loftiest 
terrace  on  the  face  of  the  earth — and  all  their  random 
waves  broke  against  the  stupendous,  impervious 
barrier.'  Whatever  conquering  or  civilizing  swarms 
made  their  way  at  various  times  into  the  land  of  the 
Indus,  reached  it  through  a  few  gaps  in  the  lesser 
chains  of  the  Northwest,  the  HiNDU-KuSH  and  the 
Suleiman  Mountains,  the  passes  that  became  cel- 
ebrated in  history  under  the  names  of  Khaibar, 
KURAM,  and  Bholan.  The  ruggedness  and  small 
number  of  even  these  breaks  made  such  occurrences 
difficult  and  far  between,  while  the  waters  which  sur- 
rounded the  lower  half  of  the  continent,  being  those 
of  an  ocean  rather  than  of  inland  seas,  for  many  cen- 
turies served  purposes  of  isolation  far  more  than  of 
intercourse.  So  the  great  North  beyond  the  moun- 
tains remained  a  region  of  mystery  and  awe,  from 
which  the  oldest  native  peoples  vaguely  fancied 
their  ancestors  to  have  come  down  at  some  time,  so 
that  some  of  their  descendant  tribes  were  wont, 
even  till  very  lately,  to  bury  their  dead  with  the  feet 
turned  northwards,  ready  for  the  journey  to  the  old 
home,  where  they  were  to  find  their  final  rest. 

4.  Travellers  agree  that  no  mountain  scenery — 
not  that  of  the  Alps,  nor  any  in  the  Caucasus,  the 
Andes,  or  other  famed  highlands  of  the  world — is 

'  The  level  of  this  table-land  is  itself,  on  a  rough  average,  10,000 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  the  Himalaya  wall  rises  10,000  feet  above 
that,  not  including  such  exceptional  giants  as  Mt.  Everest,  Dhavval- 
agiri  and  some  others,  whose  peaks  tower  up  to  nearly  as  many  feet 
more.     (Mt.  Everest-29,002  ft.) 


6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

remotely  comparable  in  splendor  and  sublimity  to 
what  the  Himalaya  offers  in  almost  any  of  its 
valleys.  A  continuous  ridge  nearly  double  the 
height  and  five  times  the  length  of  the  Swiss- 
Italian  Alps,  with  a  mountain  region  depending  on 
it,  the  size  of  Spain,  Italy,  and  Greece  put  together 
in  a  row,  and  of  which  one  small  portion,  Kash- 
mir, looking  like  a  nook  nestled  in  the  north- 
west corner,  is  as  large  as  all  Switzerland, — surely  such 
a  ridge  gives  scope  to  variety  of  sce;iery.  We  are  told 
that  it  is  not  uncommon  to  stand  on  some  point, 
from  which  the  eye  takes  in  a  semicircular  sweep  of 
undulating  or  jagged  snow-line  with  an  iridescent, 
opal-like  glory  ever  playing  along  it,  and  with  peaks 
rising  from  it  at  intervals, — "  heaven-kissing  hills  " 
indeed  ! — the  least  of  which  is  several  thousand  feet 
higher  than  Mont  Blanc,  like  pillars  of  ice  support- 
ing a  dome  of  a  blue  so  intense  as  to  seem  solid  ; 
while  at  your  feet,  forest-clothed  and  cut  by  valleys, 
stretch  down  the  lower  ridges,  which  descend,  tier 
below  tier,  in  four  great  terraces,  into  the  hot  plains 
of  Lower  Hindustan.  If  the  spectator  had  taken 
his  station  on  a  summit  of  the  northernmost — and 
highest  —  ridge,  somewhere  on  the  northwest 
boundary  of  Nepal,  the  grandeur  of  the  physical 
surroundings  would  be  helped  by  that  of  memories 
and  associations.  He  would  there  be  at  the  very 
core  and  centre  of  the  divine  HiMAVAT — to  use  the 
fine  ancient  name,  which  means  "  Abode  of  Winter," 
— the  region  to  which  the  Aryan  Hindu  has,  for 
ages  well-nigh  untold,  looked  with  longing  and  rever- 
ence ;  for  there,  on  the   fairest  and  loftiest  heights 


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8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

he  knew,  he  placed  the  dwellings  of  his  gods.  There 
they  were  enthroned  in  serene  and  unattainable 
majesty  ;  there  they  guarded  the  hidden  storehouses 
of  their  choicest  gifts  to  men  :  for  there  lay  the 
mysterious  caves  of  KuVERA,  the  god  of  wealth,  the 
keeper  of  gold  and  silver  and  other  precious  ore,  and 
of  sparkling  gems  ;  there,  snow-fed  and  pure,  at  a 
height  of  about  15,000  feet,  slumber  the  sacred  lakes, 
eternally  mirroring  in  their  still  waters  only  the 
heavens  and  the  mountain  wilderness  that  cradles 
them  ;  and  there,  too,  cluster  the  springs  of  the 
great  rivers,  holiest  of  things, — the  INDUS,  and  the 
SUTLEJ,  and  the  GANGES,  and  the  BRAHMAPUTRA 
with  the  most  glorious  name — "  Son  of  God," — that 
river  ever  had.  To  such  regions,  all  wildness  and 
mystery,  all  peace  and  silence,  but  for  the  rush  of 
torrents  and  the  music  of  winds  and  leaves,  world- 
weary  men  and  women,  longing  for  the  rest  and 
beauty  of  passionless,  eternal  things,  have  come  age 
after  age,  and  still  come,  on  long  pilgrimages,  fre- 
quently stretching  into  years  of  self-exile  in  rude 
forest-hermitages,  to  drink  deep  of  solitude  and 
meditation,  and  return,  heart-healed  and  renovated, 
to  the  plains  below  ;  unless — and  thrice  blessed  those 
to  whom  this  is  given, — they  can  stay  among  the 
mountains  and  woods,  as  in  the  vestibule  to  a  higher 
world,  stripped  of  all  earthly  clingings,  desires  and 
repinings,  patiently  and  happily  waiting  for  the  final 
release.  Thus  the  Himalayas  have  ever  been  woven 
into  the  deepest  spiritual  life  of  the  people  whose 
physical  destinies  they  helped  to  shape.  They 
literally  bounded  their  view  in  every  sense,  and  what 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  9 

lay  beyond  was  the  great  unknown  North,  where 
dwelt  the  Uttara-Kura,  the  "  remotest  of  men  " 
— whether  the  spirits  of  the  happy  dead  or  a  fabu- 
lous race  enjoying  a  perpetual  golden  age  of  sinless- 
ness  and  bliss,  cannot  be  made  out  with  absolute 
clearness — perhaps  both. 

5.  A  review  of  all  the  conditions  and  manifesta- 
tions of  India's  physical  life  were  needed  to  appre- 
ciate the  entire  range  of  the  influence  exercised  by 
that  stupendous  chain,  which,  as  it  is  the  main 
feature  of  India's  geography,  is  also  the  main  agent 
of  lier  prosperity.  Its  eternally  renewed,  inexhausti- 
ble treasury  of  snows  is  drawn  on  by  the  whole  of 
Hindustan  through  the  channels  of  its  noble  and 
numerous  rivers,  its  true  wealth-givers,  which  a  thou- 
sand branching  smaller  ridges,  dwindling  down  to 
mere  slopes,  direct  into  as  many  valleys,  breaking 
the  mass  into  a  perfect,  nicely  graded  and  dis- 
tributed network.  Indeed,  the  privileged  land  gets 
more  than  its  share  of  the  great  store  ;  for  some  of 
its  largest  rivers — the  Indus  with  its  companion  and 
later  feeder,  the  Sutlej,  and  also  the  Brahmaputra — 
have  their  springs  and  a  certain  length  of  course  on 
the  northern  side  of  the  watershed,  thus  bringing 
to  their  own  side  much  of  the  rainfall  which  should 
by  rights  go  to  the  far  thirstier  plains  of  Tibet  and 
Bokharia.  Nor  is  it  only  by  storing  the  moisture 
in  its  snowdrifts  and  glaciers,  by  nursing  and  feed- 
ing India's  infant  rivers,  that  the  Himalaya  benefits 
the  land  it  overshadows  and  protects :  it  also  secures 
to  it  the  largest  rainfall  in  the  world,  as  far  as 
measured   to   this   day,  and    regulates   the    "  rainy 


lO  VEDIC  INDIA. 

season,"  without  which  even  such  rivers  would  be 
insufficient  to  ensure  the  productiveness  of  a  soil 
exposed  to  torrid  heat  during  most  of  the  year. 
Shut  off  from  the  cooling  gales  of  the  north,  India 
depends  entirely  on  that  peculiar  form  of  trade- 
winds  known  as  the  MONSOONS,  or  rather  on  the 
southwestern  monsoon  which  sets  in  in  June,  laden 
with  the  accumulated  vapors  exhaled  through  many 
months  by  the  vast  expanse  of  the  Indian  Ocean, 
and  condensed  in  mid-air  into  huge  solid  banks  of 
clouds.  These  clouds  travel  with  great  swiftness 
northward  across  the  atmosphere  or  hang  over  the 
land  obscuring  the  light  of  day,  according  as  the 
violence  of  the  wind  rages  or  abates,  until  they  are 
dashed  against  the  stony  breast  of  the  Himalaya, 
whose  elevation  infinitely  overtops  the  region  of 
drifting  vapors.  Shattered  with  the  shock,  they 
discharge  their  torrents  of  rain  as  would  a  water- 
filled  skin  cut  open  by  a  rock  against  which  it  was 
hurled.  The  monsoon,  being  abruptly  stopped  as 
well  as  the  clouds  by  the  double  Himalayan  wall, 
besides  getting  involved  in  the  countless  narrow 
valleys  and  winding  passes  of  the  intricate  highlands 
which  lead  up  to  it,  combined  with  the  tremendous 
accumulation  of  electricity,  produces  the  most  ter- 
rific thunderstorms  of  the  world — and  thus  the 
Himalayas  detain  and  confiscate  for  the  exclusive 
benefit  of  their  privileged  land  the  supply  of  waters 
which  cannot  sail  over  their  lofty  heads,  and  for 
want  of  which  the  great  Central  Tableland  is 
doomed  to  thirst  and  comparative  barrenness.  The 
consequence    is    that    the    average    yearly    rainfalls 


3. — TAMBUR   RIVER   AT   LOWEST   LIMIT  OF   FIRS   (HIMALAYA). 


12  VEDIC  INDIA. 

recorded  for  Hindustan,  according  to  the  most  ex- 
act scientific  calculations,  give  well-nigh  incredible 
figures  :  125  inches  in  that  part  of  the  Penjab  high- 
lands which  faces  the  southwest  and  is  exposed  to 
the  full  force  of  the  monsoon  ;  220  inches  in  similarly 
situated  parts  of  Bengal ;  while  Assam,  raised  on  a 
higher  tier  of  the  Himalayan  platforms,  and  backed 
more  closely  by  the  main  ridge,  claims  the  honor  of 
owning  the  largest  rainfall  in  the  whole  world  :  481 
inches.'  Even  this  tremendous  figure  is  surpassed 
in  exceptional  years  ;  indeed  it  was  all  but  doubled 
in  the  year  1861,  for  which  805  inches  were  shown, 
366  inches  having  fallen  in  the  single  month  of  July. 
But  this,  again,  is  a  visitation  nothing  short  of  a 
public  calamity,  as  disastrous  in  its  way  as  the  oppo- 
site extreme. 

6,  It  would  seem  that  failing  crops  and  dearth 
should  be  evils  unknown  in  a  country  blessed  with 
rivers  so  many  and  so  noble,  and  so  bountiful  a  sky. 
Unfortunately,  the  contrary  is  frequently  the  case, 
owing  to  the  extremely  uneven  distribution  of  the 
rainfall,  excessive  in  places  and  insufficient  in  others. 
Meteorological  observations  are  carried  on  at  435 
stations  in  British  India.  With  such  a  number  the 
distances  between  the  stations  cannot  be  very  great ; 
yet  the  figures  returned  vary  as  much  as  though 
they  belonged  to  different  climes.  Thus  in  Penjab, 
not  a  very  extensive  province,  the  average  fall  dwin- 

'  At  the  station  of  Cherra-Poonjee.  All  the  figures  and  scientific 
data  which,  it  is  hoped,  will  lend  this  chapter  an  authority  beyond 
that  of  a  mere  general  description,  are  taken  from  that  mine  of  pre- 
cise knowledge,  W.  W.  Hunter's  Indian  Empire— Its  People,  His- 
tory, and  Products  (second  edition,  1S86). 


THE  WONDERLAND  OF  THE  EAST.  1 3 

dies  from  125  inches  to  7  and  even  5,  at  the  stations 
along  the  Indus,  because  they  are  protected  by  the 
Suleiman  range,  which  breaks  the  force  and  direction 
of  the  monsoon,  being  attacked  by  it  not  in  front, 
but  sideways,  and,  so  to  speak,  indirectly.  The  same 
causes — i.e.,  the -disposition  of  the  various  mountain 
ridges  and  spurs — interferes  with  theeven  distribution 
of  rain  all  over  Dekhan  no  less  than  Hindustan.  Thus 
it  is  that  the  same  year  not  infrequently  brings  both 
floods  and  drought,  crops  and  whole  villages  being 
swept  away  in  one  province,  while  in  another  noth- 
ing has  come  up  at  all,  with  the  uniform  result — 
famine  and  frightful  mortality — not  to  speak  of  such 
seasons  when  the  southwestern  monsoon  itself,  for 
some  unknown  reason,  totally  fails  at  the  appointed 
time,  or  comes  along  feeble  and  unsteady.  And  as 
everything  in  India  seems  to  affect  an  extravagant 
scale,  so  a  year  of  famine,  even  local,  is  attended 
with  horrors  well-nigh  indescribable,  for  with  a 
population  so  dense,  and,  as  a  rule,  so  poor  and 
improvident,  the  ravages  of  actual  starvation  are 
doubled  by  its  attendant  diseases,  and  deaths  are 
numbered  by  hundreds  of  thousands.  With  truly 
Oriental  resignation  and  apathy,  the  people  look  to 
the  Government  for  relief,  and,  when  the  calamity 
gets  beyond  the  possibility  of  help,  die  without  a 
word,  as  they  stand,  or  sit,  or  lie.  The  annals  of 
India  from  the  time  it  came  under  British  rule  show 
a  string  of  famines,  separated  by  intervals  of  no 
more  than  from  three  to  eight  years,  seldom  ten, 
and  lasting  quite  frequently  over  a  year,  even  as 
long  as  three  years.     Some  are  limited  to  particu- 


14  VEDIC  INDIA, 

lar  provinces,  but    only  too  many  are   recorded  as 
general. 

7.  Of  these,  the  most  widely  spread  and  most 
prolonged  that  India  ever  experienced,  was  that  of 
1876-78.  The  southwest  monsoon  failed  in  1875, 
and  again  in  1876;  and  in  this  latter  year  the  north- 
east monsoon, — which  sets  in  in  October,  and  is  at 
best  a  poor  resource,  coming,  as  it  does,  not  across 
an  ocean  but  an  inland  waste,  and  being,  moreover, 
intercepted  by  the  Himalaya, — proved  even  less 
efficient  than  usual.  The  main  crops  had  perished 
in  the  drought  of  1875,  and  this  disappointment  fin- 
ished the  rest.  Nor  did  the  summer  of  1877  bring 
relief,  for  the  southwest  monsoon  failed  for  the 
third  time,  and  though  the  autumn  monsoon,  for  a 
wonder,  did  arrive  laden  with  some  goodly  showers, 
the  curse  was  not  removed  from  the  land  until  a 
normal  rainfall  once  more  visited  it  in  June,  1878. 
All  these  years  the  people  died — of  starvation,  of 
cholera,  of  hunger-fevers ;  mortality  rose  to  forty 
per  cent,  above  the  usual  rates,  and  as  the  number 
of  births  greatly  diminished  at  the  same  time,  and 
the  normal  proportions  were  not  restored  until  1880, 
the  total  of  the  population  was  found  in  this  year  to 
have  actually  decreased  during  the  last  four  years, 
instead  of  increasing  at  a  moderate  but  steady  rate, 
as  is  the  case  wherever  the  normal  law  of  life-statis- 
tics is  undisturbed  and  the  number  of  births  exceeds 
that  of  deaths.  To  give  one  palpable  illustration  of 
the  ghastly  phenomenon,  we  will  borrow  the  record 
for  the  single  province  of  Madras  from  a  contem- 
porary work  of  the  highest  authority  and  reliability  ' : 
'  W.  W.  Hunter's,  The  Indian  Empire,  etc. 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  I  5 

"In  1876,  when  famine,  with  its  companion,  cholera,  was  already 
beginning  to  be  felt,  the  births  registered  in  Madras  numbered 
632,113,  and  the  deaths  680,381.  In  1S77,  the  year  of  famine,  the 
births  fell  to  477,447,  while  the  deaths  rose  to  1,556,312.  In  1878 
the  results  of  the  famine  showed  themselves  by  a  still  further  reduc- 
tion of  the  births  to  348,346,  and  by  the  still  high  number  of  810,921 
deaths.  In  1879  the  births  recovered  to  476,307,  still  below  the 
average,  and  the  deaths  diminished  to  548,158.  These  figures  are 
only  approximate,  but  they  serve  to  show  how  long  the  results  of 
famine  are  to  be  traced  in  the  vital  statistics  of  a  people." 

To  complete  this  appalling  picture,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  the  British  Government  spent,  in 
famine  relief,  during  the  thr^e  tragic  years,  1876-78, 
11,000,000  pounds  sterling  =  55,000,000  dollars,  in 
actual  cash  out  of  pocket,  not  including  the  negative 
expense  in  loss  of  revenue.  In  September,  1877, 
2,600,000  persons  were  supported  by  the  Govern- 
ment in  Madras  alone ;  of  these,  a  few  over  600,000 
were  nominally  employed  on  works,  and  nearly  two 
millions  were  gratuitously  fed.  It  is  asserted  that 
this  last  tremendous  visitation  has  been  a  lesson 
to  the  British  Government  that  will  not  fail  to  bear 
beneficent  fruits,  in  the  shape  of  more  numerous  and 
better  means  of  communication,  an  increase  in  the 
acreage  under  cultivation,  for  which  there  is,  fortu- 
nately, still  a  large  margin,  and  various  lesser  local 
measures, — a  combination  which  is  to  make  up  for 
the  unequal  distribution  of  the  rainfall  by  a  prompter 
and  more  even  exchange  and  distribution  of  the 
earth's  products  between  the  different  provinces. 

8.  The  Himalayas,  with  their  immense  sweep  and 
elevation — reaching,  in  the  higher  edges,  an  average 
of  19,000  feet,  a  height  equal  to  the  lower  half  of 
the  atmosphere,  are  apt  to  monopolize  one's  powers 


1 6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

of  attention,  and  to  fire  the  imagination  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  many  other  chains  of  mountains  that 
cut  up  the  Indian  continent  into  numerous  larger  and 
smaller  divisions.  Yet  some  of  them  are  very  con- 
siderable, and,  on  a  lesser  scale,  influence  the  climate 
and  conditions  of  life  of  their  respective  regions 
much  in  the  same  way  that  the  giant-ridge  of  the 
north  does  those  of  the  entire  continent.  After  the 
fourth  and  lowest  of  the  Himalayan  terraces  has 
sloped  down  into  the  low,  hot  riverland  which,  with 
only  a  slight  swelling  to  serve  as  watershed  between 
the  systems  of  the  Indus  and  the  Ganges,  stretches 
across  from  sea  to  sea,  from  the  mouth  of  one  of  these 
royal  rivers  to  that  of  the  other,  forming  a  wide  belt 
of  plain,  the  ground  slopes  up  again,  southward,  into 
the  ViNDHYA  range,  which,  broken  up  into  a  num- 
ber of  confused  chains  and  spurs,  interposes  its 
broad  wild  mountain  belt  between  the  more  properly 
continental  Hindustan  and  the  tapering,  peninsular 
Dekhan.  Although  of  a  more — or  rather  less — than 
moderate  elevation  (averaging  from  1500  to  4000 
feet,  with  no  peak  to  surpass  or  even  equal  the  5650 
feet  of  Mt.  Abu  at  its  western  end),  this  intricate 
system  of  "  hills,"  with  its  exuberant  growth  of  for- 
est and  jungle,  was  very  difficult  of  access  until 
pierced  with  roads  and  railways  by  European 
engineering,  forming  almost  as  effective  a  barrier 
between  the  northern  and  southern  halves  of  the 
continent,  as  the  Himalayas  themselves  between  the 
whole  of  India  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  and  during 
long  ages  kept  the  two  separate  in  race,  language, 
and  culture. 


1 8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

9.  A  bird's-eye  view,  embracing  the  whole  of  Dek- 
han,  would  show  it  to  be  a  roughly  outlined  triangu- 
lar table-land,  raised  from  one  to  three  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea  on  three  massive  buttresses  of  which 
the  broad  Vindhya  ridge  is  one,  covering  the  base  of 
the  reversed  triangle,  while  the- sides  are  represented 
by  two  chains  of  unequal  height,  respectively  named 
Western  and  Eastern  Ghats.  This  name,  mean- 
ing "  landing  stairs,"  is  particularly  appropriate  to 
the  western  chain,  which  rises  in  serrated  and  pre- 
cipitous rocky  steeps  almost  from  the  very  sea,  only 
in  places  receding  from  the  shore  sufficiently  to  leave 
a  narrow  strip  of  cultivable  and  habitable  land.  On 
such  a  strip  the  wealthy  and  magnificent  city  of 
Bombay  is  built,  very  much  like  the  Phoenician  cities 
of  yore,  the  Ghats  stretching  their  protecting  wall 
behind  them  just  as  the  Lebanon  did  behind  Tyre 
and  Sidon,  the  sea-queens  of  Canaan.  Like  the 
Lebanon,  too,  they  slope  inland,  directing  the  course 
of  all  the  rivers  of  Dekhan  from  west  to  east.  In 
scenery  they  are  much  sterner  and  grander  than 
the  Vindhya  range,  which  they,  moreover,  surpass 
in  elevation,  their  average  height  being  uniformly 
about  3000  feet  along  the  coast,  with  abrupt 
peaks  reaching  4700  feet,  and  nearly  the  double 
of  that  in  the  considerably  upheaved  southern  angle 
of  the  peninsula,  where  they  form  a  sort  of  knot, 
joining  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Eastern  Ghats. 
This  latter  range  is  really  not  a  continuous  mountain 
chain  at  all,  but  rather  a  series  of  inconsiderable 
spurs  and  hills,  interrupted  at  frequent  intervals  by 
broad  gaps,  through  which  the    rivers,  fed  by  the 


wim   V'^m"^^  Mil   / 


20  VEDIC  INDIA. 

drainage  of  the  Western  Ghats,  flow  easily  and 
peaceably  to  the  sea,  known,  all  too  modestly  con- 
sidering its  size,  as  the  Bay  of  Bengal. 

lo.  There  was  a  time  when  the  whole  of  Southern 
India  or  Dekhan  was  "  buried  under  forests  "  ;  such 
is  the  description  in  which  all  ancient  poets  agree. 
It  would  be  vastly  exaggerated  in  the  present  day, 
for  fire  and  the  axe  of  the  husbandman,  the  timber 
cutter,  the  charcoal  burner,  have  been  at  work  un- 
checked through  some  thirty  centuries  and  have 
revelled  in  wanton  destruction  after  operating  the 
necessary  clearing.  The  most  ruthless  and  formida- 
ble foes  of  the  old  virgin  forests  are  the  nomadic 
tribes,  chips  of  the  ancient  aboriginal  stock,  which 
have  escaped  the  influences  of  the  Aryan  immigra- 
tion and  conquest,  and  lead  even  now,  in  their 
mountain  fastnesses,  the  same  more  than  half  savage 
existence  which  was  theirs  when  the  first  Aryan  set- 
tlers descended  into  the  valleys  of  the  Indus.  These 
tribes  have  a  habit  of  stopping  every  year  in  their 
perpetual  wanderings  and  camping  just  long  enough 
to  raise  a  crop  of  rice,  cotton,  or  millet,  or  all  three, 
in  any  spot  of  their  native  primeval  forest  where  the 
proper  season  may  find  them.  They  go  to  work 
after  a  rude  and  reckless  fashion  which  sets  before  us 
the  most  primitive  form  of  agriculture  followed  by 
the  human  race  at  the  very  dawn  of  invention.  First 
of  all  they  burn  down  a  patch  of  forest,  regardless 
of  the  size  and  age  of  its  most  venerable  giants,  and 
as  they  do  not  care  for  the  extent  of  the  damage, 
and  certainly  do  not  attempt  to  limit  the  action  of 
the  fire,  it  usually  runs  wild  and  devours  many  square 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE   EAST.  21 

miles  in  addition  to  the  clearing  actually  wanted  for 
cultivation.  Then  comes  the  breaking  up  of  the  soil 
thus  summarily  reclaimed,  for  which  purpose  almost 
any  implement  seems  good  enough.  It  is  only  a  few 
tribes  that  know  the  use  of  a  rough  sort  of  antedilu- 
vian plough.  Most  of  them  content  themselves  with 
a  bill-hook,  a  spade,  or  a  hoe  pick  ;  nay,  a  common 
stick  sometimes  is  sufficient  to  scratch  the  surface  of 
the  soil  with — which  is  all  that  is  needed  ;  the  seed 
is  then  laid  in  the  shallow  furrow,  sometimes  covered 
up  and  sometimes  not,  and  the  tillers  sit  down  confi- 
dently to  await  results.  Now  a  rich  virgin  soil,  fer- 
tilized with  fresh  ashes,  has  quite  enough  of  such 
treatment  and  a  tropical  rainfall  to  yield  a  return 
from  thirty-  to  fifty-fold.  Not  infrequently  several 
crops  are  raised  simultaneously  and  on  the  same 
patch,  by  the  simple  process  of  throwing  rice,  Indian 
corn,  millet,  oil  seeds,  and  cotton  into  the  ground 
together,  and  gathering  the  crops  successively  as 
each  ripens  in  its  own  season.  No  wonder  that  the 
nomads  prefer  such  easy  and  remunerative  culture 
to  the  laborious  routine  of  regular  farm  work  on 
partially  exhausted  soil.  They  'do  sometimes  at- 
tempt to  get  a  crop  off  the  same  clearing  two  or 
even  three  years  in  succession,  but  these  experiments 
seem  only  to  confirm  them  in  their  own  easier  and 
more  attractive  method. 

II.  It  is  only  of  late  years  that  these  lawless  pro- 
ceedings have  encountered  some  resistance.  It  is  a 
fact  scientifically  established  that  the  wholesale  de- 
struction of  forests  is  attended  by  baleful  results 
to  the  country  where  it  takes  place,  the  worst  of 


22  VEDIC  INDIA, 

which  are  a  perceptible  change  of  climate  and  de- 
crease in  the  average  of  the  rainfall.  The  under- 
ground moisture  attracted  by  the  roots  which  it 
feeds,  being  deprived  of  the  protecting  shade,  dries 
up  and  evaporates ;  the  air  necessarily  becomes 
drier,  and  colder  or  hotter,  according  to  the  latitude, 
from  exposure  to  the  severe  northern  blasts  or  the 
scorching  southern  sun,  while,  the  large  mass  of 
moist  emanations  which  a  forest  contributes  towards 
the  formation  of  clouds  being  cut  off,  the  denuded 
district  no  longer  supplies  its  own  rain,  but  entirely 
depends  on  passing  clouds  and  storms.  These  re- 
sults would  be  particularly  fatal  in  tropical  India, 
living  under  continual  dread  of  droughts,  not  to 
speak  of  the  immediate  pecuniary  loss  represented  by 
the  annual  destruction  of  thousands  of  gigantic 
valuable  timber-trees.  This  loss  is  greatly  increased 
when  we  remember  that  many  tropical  trees  bring  a 
considerable  income  without  being  cut  down  ;  these 
are  the  gum-trees,  with  their  rich  yield  of  caoutchouc, 
lac,  and  other  gums.'  The  British  Government  at 
last  awoke  to  the  absolute  necessity  of  taking  vigor- 
ous measures  for  the  preservation  of  the  forests  still 
in  existence  and,  as  far  as  possible,  the  gradual  re- 
stocking of  those  hopelessly  thinned  or  partially 
destroyed.  Twelve  million  acres  of  forest  land  are 
now  "  reserved,"  i.  e.,  managed  as  state  property  by 

'  Lac  is  not  exactly  a  gum,  although  it  looks  and  is  counted  as  one. 
It  is  the  resinous  secretion  of  an  insect,  which  forms  abundant  in- 
crustations around  the  branches  of  various  trees.  But  without  the 
trees  we  should  not  have  the  gum  ;  so  it  -is  as  much  an  article  of 
forest  wealth  as  the  real  vegetable  gums. 


THE  WONDERLAA'D   OF  THE  EAST.  23 

special  state  officers  ;  in  these  reservations,  which 
are  carefully  surveyed,  nomadic  cultivation  and  cat- 
tle-grazing are  strictly  forbidden,  timber-cutting  is 
limited  by  several  regulations,  and  the  exuberant 
growth  of  tropical  creepers  is  ruthlessly  cut  down. 
Even  the  "open  "  forests  are  subjected  to  some  con- 
trol, and  large  patches  of  forest  land  have  been 
turned  into  nurseries,  to  grow  the  finest  kinds  of 
timber-trees. 

12,  Fortunately  such  is  the  bountiful  produc- 
tiveness of  the  soil,  and  so  great  was  the  original 
wealth  of  forest  vegetation,  that  these  measures, 
although  so  belated,  came  in  time  to  save,  in  spite 
of  the  depredations  carried  on  through  thousands 
of  years,  a  mass  of  timber  and  woodland  such 
as  few  spots  on  earth  can  match  or  even  emulate. 
Virgin  forests  are  plentiful  even  now,  and  cover 
vast  mountain  regions,  in  the  Vindhya  belt  of 
highlands,  and  especially  in  the  wildernesses  of  the 
Western  Ghats,  of  which  the  most  conspicuous 
feature  is  the  lordly  teak,  unanimously  voted  "  king  of 
forests  "  and  "  prince  of  timber."  It  is  an  indigenous 
variety  of  oak,  which  thrives  best  at  a  height  of  from 
three  to  four  thousand  feet,  and  grows  in  continuous 
masses,  absorbing  the  nourishment  of  the  soil  so  as 
not  to  allow  any  other  tree  or  plant  to  come  up  in  its 
domain.  The  only  rival  of  the  teak  in  size  and  quality 
of  timber  is  the  pine — or,  more  correctly,  larch  of  the 
Western  Himalayas,  admiringly  named  "  tree  of  the 
^ods,"  deva  darn  {dingWcized  into  "  deodar  ").  It  is 
even  more  aspiring  than  the  teak,  and  does  not  reach 
its  full  grandeur  and  beauty  lower  than  six  thousand 


24  VEDIC  INDIA. 

feet  above  the  sea ;  but  in  that  elevated  region  a 
trunk  of  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  feet  in  circum- 
ference is  no  rarity,  and  such  is  the  height  to  which 
the  tree  shoots  up,  that  with  this  thickness  of  trunk, 
it  gives  the  impression  of  sHmness.  It  was  as  famous 
in  its  way  as  the  cedars  of  Lebanon,  and  ancient 
writers  tell  us  that  Alexander  the  Great  used  it  to 
build  his  fleet.  But  the  Himalaya  has,  over  the 
Lebanon,  the  advantage  of  being  far  out  of  the  way 
of  armies  and  conquests,  and  therefore  still  wears 
its  royal  forest  crown  unimpaired,  while  the  Leb- 
anon stands  almost  denuded,  and  only  an  occasional 
solitary  tree  tells  of  its  former  glory. 

13.  But,  valuable  and  majestic  as  these  two  forest 
kings  are,  they  are  far  eclipsed,  both  in  beauty  and 
dimensions,  by  a  native  tree,  which  may  be  consid- 
ered the  most  characteristic  of  Indian  vegetation.  It 
belongs  to  the  family  of  fig-trees,  to  which  the  soil 
and  climate  of  India  are  so  congenial  that  it  is  repre- 
sented, in  different  parts  of  the  continent,  by  no  less 
than  a  hundred  and  five  varieties.  This  particular 
variety,  specially  known  Tis '' Indian  fig-tree"  (Ficus 
Indicci),  surely  may  claim  to  be  admired  as  the 
paragon  not  only  of  its  own  species,  but  of  all  vegeta- 
tion without  exception.  It  takes  so  influential  and 
prominent  a  place  in  the  life,  both  physical  and  moral, 
of  India,  and  is  moreover  such  a  marvel  of  nature, 
that  a  description  of  it  is  not  out  of  place  even  in 
a  necessarily  brief  sketch,  and  we  may  as  well  borrow 
that  given  by  Lassen  in  his  monumental  work^: 

'  Chr.  Lassen's  Indische  Alter thumskunde,  2d  ed.,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
301  ff. 


26  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  The  Ficus  Indica  is  probably  the  most  astounding  piece  of  vege- 
tation on  the  face  of  our  earth.  From  one  single  root  it  produces  a 
vast  green  temple  of  many  halls,  vi'ith  cool,  shady  bowsers  impervious 
to  the  light,  and  seems  created  expressly  and  exclusively  for  the  pur- 
pose of  supplying  shelterless  primeval  humanity  with  ready-made 
dwellings.  For  neither  is  its  wood  of  much  use,  nor  are  its  fruits 
eatable  for  man,  and  if  it  inspires  the  Hindus  and  their  neighbors 
with  a  profound  veneration,  it  is  owing  to  the  surpassing  marvel  of 
its  well-nigh  preternatural  growth,  its  indestructible  duration  and 
everlasting  self-renewal  ;  to  which  traits  the  mysterious  gloom  of  its 
galleries  and  avenues  adds  not  a  little,  yielding  a  most  grateful 
retreat  from  the  torrid  summer  heat.  The  trunk  of  the  tree,  at  a 
moderate  height  from  the  ground,  branches  out  into  several  stout 
limbs  which  stretch  from  it  horizontally  ;  from  these,  slender  shoots 
— the  so-called  "  air-roots" — grow  downwards  until  they  reach  the 
ground,  where  they  take  root,  whereupon  they  increase  in  thickness 
and  become  strong  supports  for  the  mother-limb.  The  central  trunk 
repeats  the  branching  out  process  at  a  greater  height,  and  the  second 
circle  of  limbs  in  its  turn  sends  down  a  number  of  air-roots  which 
form  an  outer  circle  of  props  or  pillars.  As  the  central  trunk  increases 
in  height,  it  goes  on  producing  tier  upon  tier  of  horizontal  limbs, 
and  these  add  row  after  row  to  the  outer  circle  of  pillars,  not  indeed 
with  perfect  regularity,  but  so  as  to  form  a  grove  of  leafy  halls  and 
verdant  galleries  multiplying  ad  iftfiniium.  For  this  evolution  is 
carried  on  on  a  gigantic  scale.  The  highest  tier  of  horizontal  limbs 
is  said  to  grow  sometimes  at  an  elevation  of  two  hundred  feet  from 
the  ground,  and  the  whole  structure  is  crowned  with  the  dome  of 
verdure  in  which  the  central  trunk  finally  culminates.  The  leaves, 
which  grow  very  close  together,  are  five  inches  long  by  three  and  a 
half  broad,  and  their  fine  green  color  pleasantly  contrasts  with  the 
small  red  figs,  which,  however,  are  not  eaten  by  men." 

Such  is  the  tree,  more  generally  known  under  its 
popular  name  of  banyan  than  under  the  scientific 
one    of    Ficus   Indica, '    the    tree   which,   together 

'  This  name  is  supposed  to  come  from  the  fact  that  the  tree  was 
carried  westward  by  Hindu  tradesmen  called  banyans.  This 
accounts  for  its  being  found  in  places  along  the  Persian  Gulf,  in  parts 


THE  WONDERLAND   OP  THE  EAST.  27 

with  the  Ganges  and  the  Himalaya,  completes  the 
picture  of  India  as  evoked  in  a  few  apt  strokes 
the  poet's  fancy  (see  p.  i).  To  the  elephants  that 
wander  majestically  among  its  shady  walks,  and  the 
apes  that  laugh  and  gambol  in  its  airy  galleries,  we 
must  add  the  noisy  parrots  and  other  birds  of  no 
less  flaming  plumage,  but  softer  voice,— and  to  these 
numerous  and  playful  denizens  the  berries  or  small 
figs  disdained  by  men  yield  grateful  and  sufficient 
food.  It  is  needless  to  mention  that  these  trees 
grow  singly,  not  in  forests — since  one  evidently  is 
in  itself  if  not  a  forest,  at  least  a  grove  of  consider- 
able size.  //i9Zt' large,  indeed,  can  scarcely  be  realized 
without  the  help  of  a  few  figures.  Fortunately 
many  have  been  accurately  measured,  and  several 
have  attained  historical  celebrity.  Thus  the  central 
trunk  of  one  handsome  banyan-tree  near  Madras  is 
known  to  have  been  twenty-eight  feet  in  diameter, 
and  to  have  been  surrounded  by  a  first  circle  of 
twenty-seven  secondary  trunks,  each  about  eleven 
feet  in  diameter,  and  from  thirty  to  fifty  feet 
in  height,  and  after  that  by  almost  innumerable 
others,  of  decreasing  stoutness.  The  largest  known 
banyan  tree  had  over  thirteen  hundred  large  trunks, 
and  three  thousand  smaller  ones.  Armies  of  six  or 
seven  thousand  men  have  frequently  been  encamped 
in  its  bowers,  and  it  was  seen  afar  as  a  solitary  green 
hillock,  until  a  violent  hurricane  half  destroyed  it  in 
1783.     Besides  which,  being  situated  on  an  island  in 

of  Arabia  (Yemen),  and  even  of  Africa,  although  its  native  land  is 
emphatically  the  Indian  Continent,  where  it  thrives  in  all  provinces, 
except  the  table-land  of  Dekhan. 


28 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


the    Nerbudda,  the    river    has    from    time    to    time 
carried  away  large  sHces  of  its  domain,  till  it  is  now 


Cv^ 


l'?'^ 


...  ~»> 


7. — clasping  roots  of  the  wightl.v  (in  the  himalayan 
forests). 


reduced  to  a  skeleton  of  its  former  glor}-.  What 
maybe  its  age,  no  one  can  tell.  Five  hundred  years 
are  historically  recorded.     But  these  trees  may  get 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  29 

to  be  thousands  of  years  old  for  aught  we  can  know 
or  prove.  For  since  each  new  trunk,  after  it  has 
become  firmly  rooted  and  has  reached  a  certain 
average  of  thickness,  inherits  the  parent  trunk's 
capacity  of  branching  out  into  horizontal  limbs 
which  in  their  turn  drop  root-tendrils  into  the 
ground,  and  consequently  absorb  the  nourishment 
of  ever  new  soil,  there  is  practically  no  reason  why 
the  multiplying  process  should  ever  stop.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  almost  every  village  in  Hindustan  has  a 
banyan-tree  which  it  holds  as  sacred  as  a  sanctuary. 
14.  The  companions  of  Alexander  who  enthusi- 
astically admired  the  banyan-tree  and  gave  it  its 
name  of  "  Indian  fig-tree,"  leave  it  uncertain  whether 
they  included  under  that  name  another  variety, 
which  has  obtained  an  even  greater  renown  and  im- 
portance from  the  fact  that  from  the  oldest  times  it 
has  been,  as  it  still  is,  the  sacred  tree  of  Indian 
religions.  This  is  the  Ficus  Religiosa,  very  well 
known  under  its  pretty  native  and  popular  names  of 
AshvattJia  and  Pippala.  It  is  frequently  planted 
next  to  a  banyan  so  as  to  have  them  mix  their 
foliage  and  stems,  from  a  superstitious  notion  that 
they  are  of  different  sex  and  their  growing  together 
is  an  emblem  of  marriage.  The  contrast  between 
the  large,  massive  leaves  of  the  banyan,  and  the 
light,  brilliant,  continually  vibrating  foliage  of  the 
pippala  is  striking  and  grateful  to  the  eye.  The 
pippala  does  not  reach  the  stupendous  dimensions 
that  the  banyan  does,  nor  are  its  trunks  as  numer- 
ous. But  it  has  a  way,  wherever  a  seed  is  acciden- 
tally dropped  on  top  of  another  tree — say  a  palm 


30  VEDIC  INDIA. 

tree — or  a  building,  to  sink  several  fibrous  shoots 
through  the  air  down  into  the  ground,  and  thus  in 
time,  when  these  shoots  have  thickened  and  hard- 
ened into  trunks,  to  entirely  encompass  tree  or 
building,  turning  it  into  a  most  picturesque  and  at 
first  sight  puzzling  object.  Although  the  ashvattha 
alone  is  professedly  held  sacred,  it  is  a  crime  to 
destroy  or  injure  either  of  the  two  ;  both  indifferently 
shelter  in  their  verdant  halls  altars  and  images  of 
gods,  as  well  as  the  performance  of  sacrifices  and  the 
pious  contemplations  of  holy  hermits.  Still,  where 
neither  banyan  nor  pippala  is  familiar,  villagers 
usually  pay  a  certain  homage  to  the  largest  and 
oldest  tree  within  their  radius,  no  matter  of  what  kind  ; 
and  it  is  not  the  native  trees  alone  which  thrive  and 
expand  under  that  wonderful  sky,  but  those  which 
India  shares  with  Europe  and  other  moderate  climes 
also  attain  dimensions  unheard  of  elsewhere.  Thus 
Anquetil  Duperron  mentions  having  on  one  of  his 
tramps  through  the  Dekhan  enjoyed  a  noonday  rest 
under  an  elm  tree  which  could  cover  over  six  hun- 
dred persons  with  its  shade,  and  adds : 

"  One  often  meets  in  India  these  trees,  under  whose  shade  travel- 
lers while  away  the  hottest  time  of  the  day.  They  cook  there  such 
provisions  as  they  carry  with  them,  and  drink  the  water  of  the  ponds 
near  which  these  trees  are  planted  ;  you  see  there  sellars  of  fried  rice 
and  fruits  in  a  small  way,  and  crowds  of  men  and  horses  from  various 
parts  of  the  country. 

15.  The  same  exuberance  confronts  us  in  almost 
any  specimen  of  India's  vegetation.  Plants  that 
grow  elsewhere  and  in  India  also  are  sure  to  reach 
here  extraordinary  size  and  to  be  amazingly  produc- 
tive.    Thus  the  bamboo,  so  plentiful  in  China  and 


32  VEDIC  INDIA. 

other  countries  of  Eastern  Asia,  attains  in  India  a 
height  of  sixty  feet,  and  has  such  enormous  leaves 
that  a  herd  of  elephants  can  lie  concealed  in  a  bam- 
boo plantation.  The  banana,  which  grows  wild  in 
parts  of  India  and  thrives  under  the  lightest  cultiva- 
tion all  over  the  continent,  seems  to  bear  its  luscious, 
nutritious  fruits  in  even  greater  abundance  and  to 
be  more  prolific  of  new  shoots  from  the  same  root 
than  in  other  apparently  as  favored  climes.  When, 
at  the  end  of  the  year,  the  long  bearing  stalk  has 
been  eased  of  its  golden  burden  and  cut  down  at  the 
ground,  some  1 80  new  stalks  spring  up  in  its  stead,  and 
the  yearly  amount  of  fruit  produced  by  a  plantation 
of  these  plants  is  133  times  that  of  the  same  space 
planted  in  wheat.'  Nor  is  the  bread-fruit  tree  want- 
ing in  this  array  of  tropical  vegetable  treasures,  and 
as  to  palms,  no  less  than  forty-two  varieties  wave 
their  graceful  crowns  over  the  bewitching  landscapes 
of  both  Hindustan  and  Dekhan,  and  of  these  most 
are  a  source  of  wealth  even  more  than  ornament. 
Chief  among  them  of  course  comes  the  cocoa-palm, 
which,  with  the  manifold  uses  which  every  part  of 
it,  from  fruit  to  root,  is  made  to  serve,  supplies  well- 
nigh  all  the  necessaries  of  life  to  many  an  island 
where  it  is  the  natives'  only  resource,  while  in  this 
thrice  blessed  land  it  is  only  one  of  a  host.     In  the 

'  The  banana  is  the  same  fruit  as  the  pisang  of  the  Isle  of  Java  and 
the  Malayan  Islands.  It  has  several  local  Indian  names,  but  the 
scientific  one,  adopted  in  botany,  v&Musa  Sapientutn.  It  is  probable 
that  it  forms  a  staple  article  of  the  very  spare  and  wholly  vegetable 
diet  of  Indian  pilgrims  and  hermits,  as  remarked  already  by  ancient 
Greek  and  Latin  writers  ;  whence  the  name  :  Miisa  Sapientum—^ 
"  Musa  of  the  Sages." 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  33 

interior  of  the  Isle  of  Ceylon  is  a  forest  of  cocoa- 
palms  numbering  eleven  viillio7is  of  trees,  while  in 
Dekhan,  along  the  western  coast  alone,  duty  was 
paid  years  ago  on  three  millions.  When  to  all  these 
we  add  cotton,  the  sugar-cane,  and  the  tea-plant, 
all  three  natives  of  India,  besides  the  imported 
cinchona  (quinine-tree)  and  all  the  native  gums, 
spices,  and  varieties  of  grains,  it  really  seems  as 
though  this  chosen  land  had  more  than  its  share  of 
the  good  things  of  creation,  and  it  becomes  more  and 
more  evident  that  with  such  a  variety  of  resources 
it  ought  not  to  suffer  so  dreadfully  even  from  pro- 
tracted droughts,  and  that  increase  of  management 
and  improved  communications  are  all  that  is  wanted 
to  put  an  end  forever  to  such  horrors  as  the  famine 
of  1876-78.' 

'  This  is  how  Herodotus  describes  the  cotton  plant  in  his  chapter 
on  India.  "  There  are  trees  which  grow  wild  there,  the  fruit  whereof 
is  a  wool  exceeding  in  beauty  and  goodness  that  of  sheep.  The 
natives  make  their  clothes  of  this  tree-wool."  Of  this  same  "tree- 
wool"  (the  exact  counterpart,  by  the  way,  of  the  German  ^^  Bautn- 
wolle"  cotton),  they  also  made  paper  to  write  on,  as  was  known  to 
the  Greeks  of  Alexander's  time. — The  sugar-cane  is  so  much  a  native 
of  India  that  we  still  call  its  produce  by  its  Sanskrit  name,  sharkara, 
later  sakkara,  but  slightly  corrupted  in  our  European  languages  : 
Latin  sacchartini,  Slavic  sakhar,  German  zitcker,  Italian  zucchero, 
Spanish  azi'uar^  French  sucre,  English  sugar — not  to  mention  Arabic 
stikkar 2lX\A  Persian  shakar.  Even  the  word  "candy" — originally 
crystallized,  transparent  sugar,  sucre  candi — is  only  a  corruption  of 
the  Sanskrit  "  kkanda"  a  name  designating  the  same  article.  We  find 
no  trace  of  a  time  when  the  art  of  manufacturing  molasses  and  sugar  by 
boiling  down  and  clarifying  the  sap  was  unknown  in  India,  although 
of  course  the  use  of  the  plant  must  have  begun  with  chewing  and 
sucking  chunks  of  the  cane,  as  is  still  done  by  the  natives  of  the  Indian 
Islands — and  by  children  in  the  Southern  American  States  and  South 


34  VEDIC  INDIA. 

l6.  In  so  necessarily  cursory  a  sketch  of  India's 
physical  features  and  products,  we  are  forced  to 
ignore  a  vast  number  of  valuable  items  of  her  vege- 
table wealth,  and  may  scarcely  pause  to  mention 
even  such  important  plants  as  rice  and  indigo.  The 
immense  variety  of  her  vegetation  will  be  inferred 
from  the  fact  that,  besides  the  distinctly  tropical  and 
indigenous  plants  which  have  just  been  briefly  touched 
upon  and  a  great  many  more,  there  is  scarcely  a 
variety  of  fruit-tree,  timber-tree,  food  plant,  or  orna- 
mental plant  that  Europe  and  the  temperate  regions 
of  Asia  can  boast,  but  makes  its  home  in  India  and 
thrives  there.  The  cause  of  such  extraordinary 
exuberance  is  not  far  to  seek :  it  lies  in  the  great 
variety  of  climates  which  in  India  range  through  the 
entire  scale  from  hottest  tropical  to  moderately 
warm  and  even  cold.  For  latitude  ensures  uni- 
formity of  climate  only  if  the  land  be  flat  and  other- 
wise uniformly  conditioned.  A  mountainous  coun- 
try can  enclose  many  climes,  with  their  respective 
vegetattons,  within  a  small  compass,  for  the  average 
temperature  is  lowered  regularly  and  perceptibly — 

America. — That  tea  should  be  a  native  of  India,  not  of  China,  will 
probably  be  a  surprise  to  many  ;  yet  it  grows  wild  in  Assam  where 
it  sometimes  reaches  the  size  of  a  large  tree  and  which  is  the  real 
home  of  the  plant,  whence  it  was  introduced  into  China  where 
there  is  a  quaint  legend  about  it :  a  very  studious  and  philosophical 
young  prince  grudged  nature  the  hours  of  rest,  considering  them 
wasted,  stolen  from  his  beloved  studies  and  meditations.  One  night 
he  got  into  such  a  rage  at  his  wretched  inability  to  conquer  the  numb- 
ness which  all  his  efforts  could  not  prevent  from  sealing  his  eyes  in  sleep, 
that  he  cut  off  his  eyelids  and  threw  them  on  the  earth — where  they 
struck  roots  and  grew  into  the  tea-plant,  that  foe  and  antidote  of  the 
sleepy  poppy. 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  35 

one  degree  to  an  ascent  of  from  350  to  500  feet — in 
proportion  as  the  elevation  increases;  so  that  a  very 
high  range  is  divided  into  many  narrow  belts  or 
zones,  which  answer,  as  to  cHmate  and  productions,  to 
whole  countries  of  entirely  different  latitudes.  The 
position  of  the  various  mountain  walls  and  ridges, 
by  catching  and  directing  or  entirely  intercepting 
this  or  that  wind,  and  the  greater  or  lesser  vicinity 
of  the  sea,  also  contribute  to  form  patches  of  local 
climate,  and  India,  being  cut  up  in  every  direction 
by  innumerable  ridges  and  spurs,  ranging  from 
moderate  hills  to  the  highest  solid  chain  in  the 
world,  abounds  in  these,  so  that  a  complete  review 
of  her  vegetation  would  really  comprise  nearly  every- 
thing that  grows  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  from  the 
distinctively  tropical  flora  to  the  oak  forests  which 
clothe  the  first  tier  of  the  Himalayan  terraces,  and 
the  white-barked  northern  birch,  which  marks,  as 
with  a  sparse,  uncertain  fringe,  the  extreme  limit  of 
mountain  vegetation. 

17.  The  same  variety,  and  for  the  same  reasons, 
marks  the  animal  creation  or  fauna  of  the  Indian 
Continent,  both  wild  and  domestic.  Of  the  latter 
some  animals  appear  to  be  indigenous,  for  instance 
the  dog,  which  still  roves  wild  in  packs  all  over  the 
Dekhan  and  portions  of  Hindustan.  There  are,  too, 
some  particularly  fine  breeds  of  hunting  dogs,  large 
powerful  animals,  which  have  been  a  boast  of  India 
from  very  old  times,  and  so  valuable  as  to  have  fig- 
ured on  lists  of  tribute  and  royal  presents,  almost 
like  elephants.  Herodotus  tells  us  of  a  Persian 
satrap  of  Babylon  under  the  Akhaemenian  kings  who 


2,6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

kept  so  many  of  these  hounds,  that  "  four  large  vil- 
lages of  the  plain  were  exempt  from  all  other  charges 
on  condition  of  finding  them  in  food."  It  is  thought 
that  a  very  handsome  dog,  portrayed  together  with 
his  groom  on  a  terra-cotta  tablet  found  in  Babylon 
may  be  a  specimen  of  this  Indian  breed.  Such  too,  no 
doubt,  were  the  dogs  presented  to  Alexander,  which 
were  said  to  fight  lions.  Too  well  known  to  be  more 
than  mentioned  is  the  elephant,  the  prince  of  the 
Indian  animal  world,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  there 
are  two  varieties,  one  native  to  Africa  and  the  other 
to  India.  But  to  many  readers  it  will  be  an  unfa- 
miliar and  amusing  detail  of  rural  economy  that 
throughout  the  Himalayan  highlands  the  favorite 
beasts  of  burden  are — sheep  and  cows!  both,  how- 
ever, of  a  peculiar  local  breed  fitted  by  nature  for 
the  work.  The  sheep  are  large  and  strong,  and  are 
driven,  loaded  with  bags,  to  the  marts  on  the  out- 
skirts of  the  ranges  towards  the  plains,  where  in 
addition  to  their  burden — generally  borax — they 
bring  their  own  wool  to  market,  being  shorn  of 
which,  they  return  to  their  mountain  pastures  with 
a  load  of  grain  or  salt.  The  cow,  on  the  contrary,  is 
a  small  variety,  the  yak,  which  is  also  useful  in  a 
double  capacity,  for  it  is  the  happy  owner  of  a  par- 
ticularly fine  and  bushy  tail,  which  is  manufactured 
into  a  rare  and  highly  prized  lace-like  texture.  It  is 
a  serviceable  little  animal,  sure-footed  and  enduring, 
which  safely  conveys  even  heavy  loads  up  the  steep- 
est paths  and  through  the  roughest  gorges.  It  is  a 
comfort  to  think  that  this  patient  servant  of  man  at 
least  is  well  cared  for  and  does  not  end  her  life  in  the 


38  VEDIC  INDIA, 

shambles,  the  cow  being  the  one  sacred  animal  of 
India,  inviolable  in  life  and  limb,  and  never  on  any 
account  used  not  only  for  food,  but  even  for  sacrifice. 
Besides,  both  custom  and  religion,  in  accordance 
with  the  climate  and  the  abundance  of  choice  and 
varied  vegetable  food,  have  long  discouraged  the 
practice  of  eating  meat,  and  even  the  sacrifices 
ceased  at  an  early  stage  of  the  country's  history  to 
consist  of  bloody  offerings.  For  this  reason,  one 
great  object  of  raising  and  keeping  cattle  almost 
vanishes  out  of  sight  in  India,  and  domestic  animals 
are  chiefly  valued  for  their  milk,  their  wool,  and 
their  services. 

1 8.  Whenever  we  think  of  wild  animals  in  con- 
nection with  India,  the  tiger  first  presents  himself 
to  our  mind.  And  well  he  may,  for  he  is  the  most 
distinctively  national  beast,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
whatever  that  Hindustan  is  his  original  home,  whence 
he  migrated  into  other  parts  of  Asia,  both  east  and 
west.  Low  hot  plains,  with  tangled  jungles  to  hide 
in,  are  his  realm  ;  hence  it  is  that  the  royal  tiger  of 
Bengal  is  the  handsomest,  fiercest,  and  altogether 
the  most  representative  specimen  of  the  race.  The 
lion  was  once  his  rival.  The  ancient  poetry  of  India 
bears  ample  witness  to  the  f  ict ;  indeed  it  is  he,  and 
not  his  more  wily  and  bloodthirsty  cousin,  who  is 
called  "  the  king  of  beasts."  Alexander  the  Great 
still  found  lions  in  Penjab,  where  he  hunted  them  with 
the  hounds  that  were  presented  to  him  for  the  pur- 
pose. But  the  gradually  changing  conditions  of  life, 
the  advance  of  civilization  with  the  attendant  de- 
struction  of  the  noble  forests  where  he   loved    to 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  39 

range,  gradually  made  existence  impossible  to  him, 
until  now  there  are  only  a  few  lion-families  left  in 
one  particular  forest  tract  in  the  peninsula  of 
Gujerat  where  they  are  strictly  preserved  by  the 
Government.  Not  so  the  tiger.  Nothing  repressed 
him,  and  though,  no  doubt,  the  jungles  of  Bengal 
were  his  first  and  favorite  haunt,  he  spread  west- 
ward as  fast  as  the  lion  retreated,  for  the  two  never 
have  been  known  to  dwell  within  hearing  or  meeting 
distance  of  each  other.  As  long  as  he  has  plenty  of 
antelopes,  deer,  and  wild  hogs  to  feast  upon  he  is 
not  a  very  objectionable  neighbor  ;  in  fact  he  is,  in 
such  districts,  to  some  extent  a  protector  of  the 
native  agriculturist,  as  all  those  animals  are  exceed- 
ingly destructive  to  crops.  When  he  is  reduced  to 
domestic  cattle,  his  vicinity  is  of  course  troublesome 
and  ruinous  ;  but  nothing  can  express  the  horror  of 
having  "  a  man-eater  "  in  the  district,  i.  e.,  a  tiger, 
generally  an  old  one,  which  has  once  tasted  human 
flesh  and  blood,  and  thenceforth,  from  a  hideous 
peculiarity  of  his  nature,  will  not  satiate  his  hunger 
with  any  other  prey.  Tigers  at  all  times,  unlike  the 
lion  and  most  beasts  of  prey,  kill  more  victims  than 
they  need  for  food,  and  this  instinct  of  sheer  killing 
seems  to  grow  fiercer  and  fiercer  in  a  man-eater. 
Without  referring  to  mere  sportsmen's  reports,  which 
may  be  suspected  of  romance  and  partiality,  there 
are  the  dry  statistic  records  with  such  figures  as 
these :  108  persons  killed  in  one  place  by  a  single 
tiger  in  three  years ;  an  average  of  about  80  a  year 
destroyed  by  another  in  the  course  of  several  years ; 
thirteen  villages  abandoned  and   250  acres  of  rich 


40  VEDIC  INDIA. 

paying  land  thrown  out  of  cultivation  from  terror  of 
a  third;  and  a  fourth,  as  lately  as  1869,  killing  127 
people  and  stopping  a  public  road  for  many  weeks, 
until  an  English  sportsman  killed  him.  The  aggre- 
gate of  these  isolated  cases  sums  up  tremendously. 
Thus,  for  the  single  year  of  1877,  we  have  a  total  of 
819  persons  and  16,137  head  of  cattle  killed  by  tigers, 
and  for  1882 — 895  persons  and  16,517  cattle — which 
reports  seem  to  establish  an  appalling  average.  It 
is  some  satisfaction  to  place  to  the  credit  side  of  the 
balance,  for  1877,  1579  tigers  killed  by  native 
hunters,  and  1726  for  1882,  which,  however,  cost 
the  Government  respectively  £2)777  and  ^4800  in 
rewards.  Yet,  incredible  as  it  may  appear,  the  loss 
of  life  from  tigers  and  other  wild  beasts  is  as  nothing 
compared  to  that  caused  by  snakes.  The  serpent  tribe 
is  perhaps  more  numerous  in  India  than  in  any  other 
country,  and  the  most  poisonous  varieties  seem  to 
have  congregated  there.  The  openness  of  the  dwel- 
lings imperatively  demanded  by  the  climate,  and  the 
vast  numbers  of  people  sleeping  in  the  open  air,  in 
groves,  forests,  gardens,  etc.  give  them  chances  of 
which  they  make  but  too  good  use,  swarming  in  the 
gardens  and  seeking  shelter  in  the  houses  during  the 
rainy  season.  As  a  consequence, death  from  snake- 
bite almost  equals  an  epidemic.  In  that  same  year 
of  1877,  16,777  human  victims  perished  by  this  means, 
although  ^81 1  reward  were  paid  for  the  destruction 
of  127,295  snakes,  while  in  1882,  19,519  persons  were 
reported  to  have  been  killed  by  snakes  as  compared 
with  2606  by  tigers,  leopards,  wolves,  and  all  other 
wild  beasts  together.    That  year  ^1487  were  paid  in 


10.    PRIMEVAL   FORKST  ;    MONKEYS   SCARED    BY  A  LARGE    SNAKE. 


42  VEDIC  INDIA. 

rewards    for  the  destruction   of  322,421    venomous 
reptiles. 

19.  The  insect  world  is  not  less  profusely  repre- 
sented than  the  other  divisions  of  animated  creation, 
and  though  it  successfully  does  its  best  to  make  life 
disagreeable  to  those  who  have  not  sufficient  wealth 
to  protect  themselves  by  costly  and  ingenious  de- 
vices, it  seems  ridiculous  to  mention  the  tiny  nuis- 
ance in  one  breath  with,  the  huge  standing  disaster 
the  country  possesses  in  its  tigers  and  snakes.  Be- 
sides, there  are  two  insects  which  in  almost  any  land 
would  be  considered  a  sufficient  source  of  income, 
and  which  here  step  in  as  an  incidental  and  second- 
ary resource.  They  are  the  insect  that  produces  the 
valuable  and  inimitable  lac-dye,  and  especially  the 
silk-worm.  This  latter,  like  the  tea  plant,  we  are 
apt  to  hold  as  originally  the  exclusive  property  of 
China,  and  imported  thence  into  every  country 
where  it  is  raised.  Yet  it  appears  that  it  is  as 
much  an  indigenous  native  of  India  as  of  China, 
like  several  other  products,  and,  among  them,  that 
most  vital  one — rice.  The  mulberry  tree,  of  course, 
is  cultivated  in  connection  with  the  silk  industry, 
but  by  no  means  universally,  as  there  are  many  vari- 
eties of  the  worm  which  content  themselves  with 
other  plants.  That  which  feeds  on  the  leaves  of  the 
ashvattha  {Ficus  Religiosd)  is  called  deva  (divine),  on 
account  of  the  sacredness  of  the  tree,  and  very 
highly  prized  —  nor  altogether  on  superstitious 
grounds,  for  the  thread  it  spins  is  said  to  be  quite 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  that  of  the  mulberry  worm, 
both  in  glossy  beauty  and  flexible  strength ;  perhaps 


44  VEDIC  INDIA. 

this  may  be  the  effect  of  a  gum-like  substance  con- 
tained in  the  sap  of  both  this  tree  and  the  banyan, 
and  which  in  both  frequently  exudes  from  the  bark, 
thickens  into  a  kind  of  caoutchouc,  and  is  gathered 
for  sale  and  use. 

20.  Even  so  brief  and  cursory  a  review  of  India's 
physical  traits  and  resources  would  be  incomplete 
without  some  mention  of  the  mineral  wealth  which, 
for  ages,  has  been  pre-eminently  associated  with  the 
name.  To  say  "India"  was  to  evoke  visions  of 
gold,  diamonds,  pearls,  and  all  manner  of  precious 
stones.  These  visions,  to  be  just,  were  made  more 
than  plausible  by  the  samples  which  reached  the 
west  from  time  to  time  in  the  form  of  treasures  of 
untold  variety  and  value,  either  in  the  regular  ways 
of  trade,  from  the  Phoenicians  down,  or  by  that 
shorter  road  of  wholesale  robbery  which  men  call 
conquest ;  and  indeed,  but  for  the  glamour  of  such 
visions  and  the  covetousness  they  bred,  India  might 
not  have  seen  most  of  the  nations  of  Europe  fight 
for  a  place  on  her  soil,  from  a  mere  foothold  to 
whole  realms,  and  might  have  remained  free  from 
invasion  and  foreign  rule.  Yet,  strangely  enough, 
it  now  turns  out  that  her  chief  and  real  mineral 
worth  lies  not  so  much  in  the  gold  and  precious 
stones  whose  glitter  fascinated  the  nations  far  and 
near,  as  in  the  less  showy  but  far  more  permanently 
useful  and  inexhaustible  minerals  and  ores:  the  coal 
fields  which  underlie  most  of  central  Dekhan ;  the 
natural  petroleum  wells  of  Penjab,  Assam,  and 
Burma;  the  salt  which  both  sea  and  inland  salt 
lakes  yield  abundantly  by  evaporation,  and  which  in 


THE  WONDERLAND   OF  THE  EAST.  45 

the  northeast  of  Penjab  is  quarried  like  any  stone 
from  a  range  of  soHd  salt  cliffs,  unrivalled  for  purity 
and  extent ;  the  saltpetre  which  covers  immense  sur- 
faces of  the  soil  in  the  upper  valleys  of  the  Ganges; 
the  iron  which  is  found  in  almost  all  parts  of  the 
continent ;  the  rich  copper  mines  of  the  lower  Hima- 
layas,— not  to  speak  of  various  quarries — building 
stone,  marble,  slate,  etc.  As  for  gold,  although 
India  has  always  distinctly  ranked  as  a  gold-pro- 
ducing country,  and  many  of  her  rivers  have  been 
known  from  oldest  times  to  carry  gold,  and  gold- 
washing  has  always  been  going  on  in  a  small  way 
here  and  there  and  everywhere,  so  that  the  metal 
probably  exists'  in  many  places,  and  very  possibly  in 
large  quantities,  yet  the  industry  of  gold-seeking 
does  not  appear  to  thrive ;  it  is  carried  on  in  a  desul- 
tory, unbusinesslike  manner  which  yields  but  meagre 
returns.  Silver  is  no  longer  found  anywhere  in  the 
country,  and  the  famed  diamonds  of  Golconda  are 
nothing  nowadays  but  a  legendary  name,  nor  are 
other  gems,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  car- 
nelian,  onyx,  agate,  and  lapis  lazuli,  found  in  much 
greater  abundance ;  either  the  deposits  are  ex- 
hausted, or,  more  probably,  the  enormous  quantities 
which  came  out  of  the  country  in  the  way  of  pres- 
ents, trade,  and  conquest,  and  those  which  still  partly 
fill  the  treasuries  of  native  princes  and  temples,  were 
due  to  accumulation  through  the  many,  many  cen- 
turies of  India's  seclusion,  before  the  land  became 
known  and  open  to  other  nations. 

21.    But  all  and  more  than  the  visionary  legends  of 
fantastic  wealth  coupled  with  the  name  of  India  gen- 


46  VEDIC  INDIA. 

erally,  is  realized  in  India's  most  southern  and  latest 
annexed  appendage,  the  Isle  of  Ceylon.  That  island, 
about  three  fourths  the  size  of  Ireland,  is  in  very 
truth  what  the  adjoining  continent  was  long  errone- 
ously thought  to  be  :  the  richest  mine  in  the  world 
of  the  rarest,  choicest  precious  stones  of  nearly  every 
known  kind ;  independently  of  and  apart  from  its 
pearl-fisheries,  which  yield  the  most  perfect  pearls 
in  existence,  surpassing  even  those  of  the  Persian 
Gulf  in  purity  and  soft  radiance.  Nor  is  the  island 
less  surpassingly  endowed  with  regard  to  vegetation. 
The  interior  is  one  huge  tropical  forest,  where  all 
the  palms,  timber-trees,  gum-trees,  spice-  and  fruit- 
trees  of  India  thrive  side  by  side  with  those  of  Europe 
and  other  temperate  zones  ;  the  cotton  there  grows 
to  the  size  of  a  real  tree,  and  justifies  the  apparently 
exaggerated  accounts  of  the  Greeks  (see  p.  ')  ;  and 
to  all  these  must  be  added  the  coffee-tree  which 
grows  wild,  and  the  wonderful  bread-tree,  not  to 
speak  of  the  vanilla  vine,  cinnamon,  and  other  most 
valuable  plants,  and,  of  late,  the  successful  tea 
plantations.  In  its  animal  creation,  Ceylon  is  not 
less  blest :  it  abounds  in  most  kinds  of  handsome 
and  useful  animals,  except  horses,  which  are  entirely 
wanting,  and  is  renowned  for  its  breed  of  elephants, 
the  finest  and  cleverest,  though  not  the  largest,  in 
India.  If  to  all  these  advantages  we  add  a  soil  that 
regularly  yields  three  harvests  a  year,  a  glorious  and 
most  wholesome  climate,  not  afflicted  with  extreme 
heat,  notwithstanding  the  island's  position  so  near 
the  equator,  but  maintained  on  a  mild  and  pretty 
uniform  level  by  a  perfect  combination  of  sea  and 


THE   WONDERLAND    OE  THE   EAST. 


47 


mountains,  and,  as  a  consequence,  absence  of  fever 
and  all  malarial  affections,  we  shall  understand  why 
this  chosen  spot,  which  Milton  might  have  had  in 
his  mind's  eye  when  he  spoke  of  isles 

"  That,  like  to  rich  and  various  gems,  inlay 
The  unadorned  bosom  of  the  deep," 

has  been  called  the  jewel  casket  and  finishing  glory 
of  India;  and  we  may  pre-eminently  apply  to  it  the 
name  of  "  Wonderland  of  the  East,"  even  though  it 
assuredly  beseems  all  this  peerless  portion  of  our 
habitable  earth. 


^m 

^ 

S 

^ 

^s 

^B 

^^^ 

^^^^Ss 

^j^C^^^^^a 

'^M 

^m 

s^.3v^ 

^^^ 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE   ArYAS. 

"  Who  can  see  the  green  earth  any  more 
As  she  was  by  the  sources  of  Time  ? 
Who  imagines  her  fields  as  she  lay 
In  the  sunshine  unworn  by  the  plough  ? 
Who  thinks  as  they  thought, 
The  tribes  who  then  roamed  on  her  breast, 
Her  vigorous,  primitive  sons  ?" 

Matthew  Arnold,  from  T/ie  Future. 

I.  In  a  work  which  undertakes  to  present,  in  a 
set  of  parallel  pictures,  the  history  of  several  nations, 
differing  in  race,  culture,  and  religion,  but  covering 
pretty  much  the  same  span  of  the  world's  age,  it  is 
at  times  very  difficult  to  keep  them  well  apart,  be- 
cause the  influences  to  which  they  mutually  subject 
one  another  cannot  be  ignored,  unless  we  are  willing 
to  content  ourselves  with  fragmentary  and  fanciful 
sketches,  leaving  a  good  half  of  the  characteristic 
traits  either  indistinct  or  unaccounted  for.  This 
difficulty  increases  considerably  when  we  have  to 
do  with  two  nations  derived  from  the  same  stock, 
and  exhibiting  such  striking  affinities,  such  undenia- 

48 


THE  ARYAS.  49 

ble  resemblances,  as  to  betray  their  original  identity 
at  every  turn  and  make  us  feel  as  though  we  can 
actually  grasp  and  hold  fast  the  time  when  they 
were  as  yet  undivided,  even  though  that  time  may 
lie  far  beyond  all  calculable  bounds  of  historical 
research.  Two  such  sister  nations  we  have  in  the 
Aryan  Hindus  and  Eranians.  It  is  impossible  to  do 
justice  to  the  history  and  culture  of  the  one  without 
drawing  the  other  into  the  same  field  of  vision  and 
comparing  the  two, — a  process  which  necessarily 
brings  out  their  common  origin,  by  presenting  identi- 
cal or  similar  features,  obviously  borrowed  by  neither 
from  the  other,  but  inherited  by  both  from  a  common 
ancestry.  It  was  thus  that  in  a  former  volume, 
when  treating  of  the  Eranians,  their  culture  and 
their  religion,  we  were  unavoidably  led  to  trespass 
on  the  ground  reserved  for  the  present  work.'  We 
found  it  impossible,  "  in  dealing  with  the  Aryan 
peoples  of  Eran,  to  separate  them  entirely  from 
their  brethren  of  India,  these  two  Asiatic  branches 
of  the  Aryan  tree  being  so  closely  connected  in  their 
beginnings,  the  sap  coursing  through  both  being  so 
evidently  the  same  life-blood,  that  a  study  of  the 
one  necessarily  involves  a  parallel  study  of  the 
other."*  Thus  we  were  actually  compelled  to  stop 
for  a  brief  glimpse  at  the  conditions  which  regulated 
the  existence  of  the  ancestors  of  both  in  the  period 
that  has  been  called  "  Indo-Eranian,"/. ^.,  the  period 
before  the  future  settlers  of  Eran  and  the  future 
conquerors  of  India  had  separated,  before  they  had 

'  See  Story  of  Media^  Babylon,  and  Persia,  chap,  ii.— v. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  36. 
4 


50  VEDIC  INDIA. 

severally  wandered  into  the  countries,  far  distant 
from  one  another  and  from  the  primeval  home,  of 
which  they  were  to  win  and  hold  possession  through 
well-nigh  countless  future  ages. 

2.  A  cursory  sketch  was  sufificient  for  the  compre- 
hension of  Eranian  history,  because  the  nations  of 
this  branch  soon  diverged  very  widely  from  the 
parent  stock,  and  went  their  own  separate  and 
strongly  individual  way.  Not  so  the  peoples  who 
descended  into  India  and  settled  there.  The  nations 
of  this  branch  were  merely  the  continuation  of  the 
mother  trunk.  They  did  not  break  with  any  of  their 
ancestral  traditions,  but,  on  the  contrary,  faithfully 
treasured  them,  and  only  in  the  course  of  time  and 
further  migrations,  developed  from  them,  not  an 
opposition,  but  a  progressive  and  consistent  sequel, 
in  the  shape  of  a  more  elaborate  religion  and,  later 
on,  philosophical  systems  and  speculations,  based  on 
the  same  principles,  which,  in  ruder,  simpler  forms, 
had  been  their  intellectual  inheritance  from  the  first. 
At  the  present  stage  of  our  studies,  therefore,  we 
must  pause  for  a  longet;  and  more  searching  retro- 
spect, if  we  mean  to  follow  out  and  comprehend  the 
long  and  gradual  evolution  of  the  people  who,  of  all 
Orientals,  are  nearest  akin  to  us  in  thought,  in  feel- 
ing, in  manner,  and  in  language.  By  doing  so,  we 
feel  assured  that  we  are  reconstructing  the  past  of 
our  own  race  at  its  entrance  on  the  career  of  con- 
scious humanity,  that  we  are  learning  how  our  own 
fathers,  in  incalculably  remote  ages,  not  only  lived 
and  labored,  but  thought  and  prayed, — nay,  how 
they  began  to  think  and  to  pray. 


THE  ARYAS.  $1 

3.  A  fascinating  task,  but  not  as  easy  as  it  would 
seem.  For,  if  learning  be  a  difficult  achievement,  far 
more  difficult  is  that  of  ?^;/learning, — forgetting  what 
we  have  assimilated  through  years  of  that  conscious 
or  unconscious  process  of  absorption  which  not  only 
fills  but,  so  to  speak,  permeates  our  brains,  moulds 
and  shapes  them,  till  our  mental  acquirements  be- 
come part  of  our  being,  in  fact  the  most  tenacious, 
the  most  inalienable  part  of  ourselves.  Yet  this  is 
exactly  what  we  must  strive  to  do,  if  we  would  suc- 
cessfully identify  ourselves  with  these  beginnings  of 
all  the  things  of  which  we,  in  this  our  span  of  life, 
are  witnessing  the  bloom,  the  fruition,  the  perfec- 
tion, and,  alas!  in  many  cases,  the  decay.  We  must 
not  forget  for  a  time  what  forms  as  much  a  part 
of  our  intellectual  consciousness,  as  breath  or  motion 
does  of  our  physical  existence.  This  mode  of  work- 
ing backward,  dropping  item  after  item  of  our  intel- 
lectual ballast  as  we  go,  alone  enables  us  to  divest 
ourselves  of  our  obtrusive  and  narrow  self  and  to 
put  ourselves  in  the  place  of  our  remote  progeni- 
tors, to  think  their  eager  but  as  yet  untutored 
thoughts,  to  feel  with  their  simple  directness,  their 
unsophisticated  intenseness. 

4.  Behold  them,  then,  our  forefathers,  the  Aryas, 
in  their  early  inland  home — which,  let  it  be  at  once 
understood,  is  neither  India  nor  the  Eran  "©f  the 
Zoroastrians,  but  some  region,  not  as  yet  ascertained, 
though  eagerly  and  patiently  sought  for, — where  the 
ancestors  of  both  these  and  many  more  nations  have 
dwelt  as  one  undivided  race  for  many  ages  before 
that  ever  spying,  ever  prying  spirit  of  inquiry,  which 


52  VEDIC  INDIA. 

is  one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  our  race,  first 
stirred  in  their  settlements.  At  that  moment  we 
already  find  a  people,  rude  and  primitive,  but  by  no 
means  wholly  savage  or  barbarous,  nor  even  what  is 
usually  understood  by  "  a  very  young  people."  For 
the  earliest  glimpse  it  is  permitted  us  to  cast  into  their 
dwelling-places  and  mode  of  life  shows  them  pos- 
sessed of  domestic  arts  and  crafts  which,  rudimentary 
as  they  may  appear  to  us,  imply  centuries  of  undis- 
turbed sojourning  in  the  land  of  their  primary 
choosing,  under  conditions  favoring  the  training  and 
development  of  the  most  essential  features  of  moral 
and  social  culture,  as  well  as  of  material  prosperity. 
A  people  must  have  passed  out  of  the  purely  no- 
madic stage,^  to  be  found  established  in  rural  home- 
steads ;  nor  can  it  be  said  to  be  in  its  infancy  when, 
after  having  achieved  the  momentous  transition, 
it  has  gone  beyond  the  solitary  family  life  in  de- 
tached dwellings — huts  built  on  a  patch  of  enclosed 
land, — and  has  learned  to  cluster  these  homesteads 
into  villages  and  boroughs,  for  mutual  protection 
and  assistance, — where  their  daily  life  presents  the 
normal  and  healthful  combination  of  agricultural 
labor  and  cattle-breeding,  in  short  the  manifold  occu- 
pations which,  in  our  languages,  go  under  the  name 
of  "  farming," — without  excluding  the  exercise  of 
hunting,  now,  however,  a  relaxation  more  than  a 
necessity,  a  means  of  introducing  wholesome  variety 
into  the  monotony  of  the  daily  farm-fare,  and  also  of 
repelling  and  destroying  the  ravenous  night-prowlers, 
the   wild   creatures  of  the   woods  and    the  desert. 

*  See  Story  of  Chaldea^  ch.  i.,  "  The  Four  Stages  of  Culture." 


THEARYAS.  53 

Once  arrived  at  this  really  advanced  stage  of  culture, 
the  Aryas,  like  all  primitive  races,  must  have  ad- 
vanced rapidly  in  the  work  of  social  organization, 
for  we  ever  find  intellectual  improvement  developing 
hand  in  hand  with  material  prosperity.  It  is  an  at- 
tractive and  instructive  task  to  reconstruct  their  life 
from  such  imperfect  and  scattered  scraps  of  informa- 
tion as  we  can  dispose  of. 

5.  The  first  feature  which  it  pleases  us  to  note  in 
these  early  settlements  of  our  own,  still  undivided, 
race,  is  the  reverence  for  family  ties  and  duties, 
firmly  established  and  held  sacred.  The  father  ac- 
knowledges himself  the  protector,  supporter,  and 
nourisher  of  his  own  immediate  family  ;  brothers  and 
sisters  live  on  terms  of  mutual  assistance  and  cheer- 
ful companionship,  sharing  in  the  manifold  duties 
of  house  and  farm.  The  degrees  of  relationship  by 
marriage  are  determined  to  a  nicety,  and  persons 
connected  by  this  secondary  bond  are  close  friends 
and  allies.  Thus  the  family  grows  into  the  tribe; 
the  head  of  the  one  remains  the  head,  the  king,  of 
the  other.'  The  several  tribes,  at  first  more  or  less 
closely  related,  live,  as  a  rule,  on  terms  of  peaceful 
neighborliness  and  hospitality.  If  quarrels  do  occur 
and  lead  to  armed  strife,  they  mostly  arise  out  of 
some  dispute  about  fiocks  and  herds,  and,  at  a 
later  time,  out  of  the  competition  between  kin- 
dred tribes  striving  for  supremacy  or  the  appro- 
priation of  more  land.  At  the  more  primitive 
era  the  principal  occasion  of  warfare  was  one  calcu- 
lated to  tighten  the  bond  of  race  rather  than  loosen 

'  See  Sloiy  of  Chaldea,  ch.  i.,  especially  pp.  123-125. 


54  VEDIC  INDIA. 

it,  being  self-defence,  the  constant  necessity  of  guard- 
ing against  the  raids  of  innumerable,  lawless  hordes 
of  nomads,  mostly  of  non-Aryan  stock,  who,  mounted 
on  their  fleet  and  indefatigable  steppe-ponies,  kept 
continually  hovering  and  circling  round  the  pasture 
lands  and  settlements,  whose  prosperity  excited  their 
greed. 

6.  Physically,  the  Aryas,  as  we  can  picture  them 
from  certain  indications,  are  of  high  stature,  and 
powerful  build,  white-skinned,  fair-haired,  and  prob- 
ably blue-eyed.  Ages  of  seclusion  in  their  first  home 
have  moulded  these  originally  local  characteristics 
into  a  permanent,  indelible  type,  which  no  amount 
of  uniting  with  other  races  will  ever  be  able  wholly 
to  obliterate.  To  the  development  of  this  noble 
physique  their  mode  of  life — mostly  outdoor  labor 
in  moderation — and  their  favorable  surroundings, 
must  have  contributed  not  a  little:  a  temperate  cli- 
mate inclining  to  the  cold,  a  land  of  alternate  woods 
and  plains,  milk-food  in  abundance,  as  well  as  meat 
and  wheat,  pastoral  and  agricultural  pursuits, — such 
conditions  of  existence,  if  continued  through  many 
centuries,  undisturbed  by  intercourse  with  men  of 
different  blood  and  customs,  must  result  in  an  excep- 
tionally fine  race.  Nor  are  these  natural  advantages 
unassisted  by  art  and  crafts.  The  Aryas  are  prompt 
and  skilful  in  wielding  weapons,  which,  it  is  true,  are 
mostly  still  of  hewn  and  polished  stone,  shaped  and 
sharpened  at  an  incalculable  cost  of  time  and  labor, 
but  by  no  means  inefficient  for  all  their  clumsiness. 
Besides,  they  have  lately  learned  the  use  of  metals 
also  :  gold  and  silver  certainly,  and  a  third  metal  not 


THE  ARYAS.  55 

fully  identified  yet — perhaps  iron.  They  can  fashion 
and  handle  a  rude  sort  of  plough,  which,  uncouth  as 
it  is,  has  not  only  survived  its  original  inventors,  but 
is  still  in  use  in  more  or  less  remote  parts  of  every 
country  of  Europe,  owing  to  the  conservatism  and 
stubbornness  of  the  peasantry  all  over  the  world, 
wherever  they  have  not  been  brought  into  direct 
contact  and  brisk  intercourse  with  the  greater  or  lesser 
centres  of  trade  and  traffic.  Their  garments  are 
made  of  skins  sewed  together  or  of  spun  and  woven 
wool.  They  dwell  in  houses  provided  with  doors, 
and  surrounded  by  yards,  (or  gardens),  which  simply 
means  "  enclosed  grounds."  They  also  have  hurdles 
for  their  cattle  and  domestic  animals — a  necessary 
addition,  for  they  possess  very  nearly  every  kind  that 
we  own  :  horses  and  asses,  sheep  and  goats,  pigs  and 
geese,  with  the  dog  to  guard  them,  the  mouse  to  pilfer 
their  stores,  the  wolf  and  the  bear  to  endanger  their 
folds  ;  they  grind  their  grain,  they  cook  and  bake,  and 
have  a  horror  of  raw  meat.  They  build  boats  and 
skiffs  and  navigation  is  known  to  them,  though  only 
on  lakes  and  rivers,  for  they  have  never  beheld  a  sea 
or  ocean.  Their  minds  are  open  to  all  impressions; 
their  thoughts  are  busy  with  the  phenomena  of 
nature  ;  but  in  abstract  speculation  they  have  not  yet 
reached  a  very  advanced  stage — for  they  can  count 
only  up  to  a  hundred. 

7.  Such  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  the  Aryas, 
dwelling  together  as  one  undivided  nation,  speaking 
one  language,  holding  one  worship,  one  mode  of  life, 
before  they  yield  to  the  impulse  of  migration  which 
has  seized  on  all  peoples  at  certain   stages  of  their 


56  VEDIC  INDIA. 

existence,  when  they — whether  from  want  of  room, 
or  family  discords,  or  the  restlessness  of  awakening 
curiosity  and  unconscious  sense  of  power,  or  from 
all  these  combined — begin  to  separate,  and  detach- 
ment after  detachment  leaves  the  mother  trunk, 
never  to  return  and  never  again  to  meet,  save  in  ages 
to  come,  mostly  as  e'nemies,  with  no  remotest  mem- 
ory of  a  long  severed  tie,  of  a  common  origin. 

8.  As  tradition  itself  does  not  begin  its  doubtful 
records  till  ages  after  this  original  separation,  and  the 
dawn  of  history  finds  most  of  the  nations  which  we 
ascribe  to  the  Aryan  stock  established  on  the  lands 
of  which  they  had  severally  taken  possession,  it  fol- 
lows that  we  have  just  been  contemplating  a  picture 
for  which  we  have  not  the  slightest  tangible 
materials.  No  monuments,  no  coins,  inscriptions, 
hieroglyphic  scrawls,  reach  back  as  far  as  the  time  we 
have  endeavored  to  retrace.  Indeed,  the  first  really 
historical  monuments  of  any  kind  at  our  command 
are  the  inscriptions,  caused  to  be  engraved  in  various 
parts  of  Hindustan,  on  pillars  and  rocks,  by  ASHOKA, 
a  king  who  reigned  as  late  as  250  B.C.  The  same 
applies  to  architecture  ;  no  buildings  or  ruins  of 
buildings  are  to  be  traced  further  back  than  500  B.C. 
Was  it  then  an  imaginary  sketch,  the  features  of 
which  were  put  together  at  random,  supplied  by 
fancy  or  any  trite  description  of  pastoral  life?  So 
far  from  it,  we  can  boldly  say  :  would  that  all  infor- 
mation that  comes  down  to  us  as  history  were  as  true 
to  nature,  as  well  authenticated,  as  this  short  sketch  of 
an  age  on  which  not  even  the  marvellously  trained 
skill  of  modern  historical  investigation  could  fasten 


THE  ARYAS.  57 

by  SO  much  as  a  single  thread.  But  where  history 
throws  down  the  web,  philology  takes  it  up  and 
places  in  our  hands  the  threads  which  connect  us 
with  that  immeasurable  past — threads  which  we  have 
held  and  helped  to  spin  all  the  days  of  our  lives,  but 
the  magic  power  of  which  we  did  not  suspect  until 
the  new  science,  Ariadne-like,  taught  us  where  to 
fasten  them,  when  we  have  but  to  follow;  these 
threads  are — our  languages. 

9.  A  hundred  years  ago,  several  eminent  English 
scholars  resided  in  India,  as  servants  of  the  East 
India  Company,  and,  unlike  their  coarse  and  igno- 
rant predecessors,  thought  it  their  duty  to  become 
familiar  both  with  the  spoken  dialects  and  the  liter- 
ary languages  of  the  country  they  helped  to  govern. 
They  were  earnest  and  enthusiastic  men,  and  the 
discovery  of  an  intellectual  world  so  new  and  ap- 
parently different  from  ours  drew  them  irresisti- 
bly on,  into  deeper  studies  than  their  duties  re- 
quired. Warren  Hastings,  then  the  head  of  the 
executive  government,  representing  the  Company  in 
India,  cordially  patronized  their  efforts,  from  political 
reasons  as  well  as  from  a  personal  taste  for  scholarly 
pursuits,  and  not  content  with  lending  them  his 
powerful  moral  countenance,  gave  them  material 
assistance,  and  even  urgently  commended  them  to 
the  Board  of  Directors  at  home.  It  was  then  that 
Charles  Wilkins  translated  portions  of  the  great 
national  epic,  the  MahAbharata,  and  compiled  the 
first  Sanskrit  grammar  in  English  ;  that  Sir 
William    Jones  *    translated    the    national     code 

*  The  old  enemy  and  traducer  of  Anquetil  Duperron. — See 
Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  12-I5, 


58  VEDIC  INDIA. 

known  as  "  THE  Laws  of  Manu  " ;  while  COLE- 
BROOKE  wrote  masterly  treatises  on  Hindu  law, 
philosophy,  literature,  and  mathematics.  These  in- 
defatigable learners  could  not  but  be  struck  with  the 
exceeding-  resemblance,  nay  frequently  the  obvious 
identity,  between  a  great  number  of  Sanskrit  words 
and  the  corresponding  words  in  all  or  many  of  the 
living  languages  of  Europe,  as  well  as  in  the  dead 
tongues  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome,  the  old 
Teutonic  and  Slavic  idioms.  The  great  future 
importance  of  this  discovery  at  once  flashed  on  the 
mental  vision  of  these  gifted  and  highly  trained 
students,  and  comparative  studies  were  zealously 
entered  upon.  Great  and  noble  was  the  work  which 
these  men  did,  with  results,  on  the  whole,  marvel- 
lously correct ;  but,  as  is  always  the  case  with  such 
zealous  pioneering  in  a  new  field,  some  of  the  con- 
clusions they  arrived  at  were  necessarily  immature 
and  misleadingly  positive  and  sweeping.  Thus  it 
was  for  many  years  universally  believed  that  Sanskrit 
was  the  mother  tongue,  to  which  all  languages  could 
be  traced.  This  theory  was  not  by  far  as  absurd  as 
that  which  had  been  set  up  some  time  previously  by 
certain  religious  zealots  who,  from  an  exaggerated 
regard,  untutored  by  science,  for  all  that  is  connected 
with  the  "  inspired  books  "  of  our  creed,  went  so  far 
as  to  assert  that  Hebrew  was  the  mother  of  all  the 
languages  in  the  world.  Still  it  might,  from  its 
plausibility  and  the  large  percentage  of  truth  it  con- 
tained, have  done  much  harm,  by  leading  people  to 
imagine  that  they  had  touched  the  goal,  when,  in 
reality,  they  were  at  the  initial  stage  of  knowledge  ; 


THE  Aryas.  59 

but  the  question  was  placed  on  its  proper  ground  by 
the  somewhat  later  discovery  of  a  still  more  ancient 
language,  standing  to  Sanskrit  in  the  relation  of 
Latin  to  French,  Italian,  and  Spanish,  or  Old  German 
to  English.  Since  then  JACOB  Grimm  discovered 
the  law  that  rules  the  changes  of  consonants  in  their 
passage  from  language  to  language, — the  law  that 
bears  his  name,  although  it  is  but  one  among  the 
many  titles  to  glory  of  that  most  indefatigable,  most 
luminous  of  searchers.  The  unity  of  Aryan  speech 
is  now  established  beyond  the  possibility  of  a  doubt. 

10.  This  common  language,  or — more  correctly 
— this  common  ancestor  of  the  so-called  Aryan 
family  of  tongues,  would  prove,  could  it  be  raised 
from  the  dead,  to  be  that  of  the  race,  whose  mode 
of  life  and  state  of  culture  we  just  now  attempted 
to  reconstruct.  Reconstruct  from  what  ?  From 
nothing  but  tJie  words,  which  are  the  only  heirloom 
they  have  transmitted  to  us,  their  late  and  widely 
scattered  successors.  Only  words.  But  as  words 
stand  for  thoughts,  and  knowledge,  and  feelings, 
this  heirloom  implies  all  our  histories,  all  our  philo- 
sophical systems,  our  poetry — in  fact,  all  that  we 
are  and  will  be.  It  is  the  nutshell  in  the  fairy 
tale,  out  of  which  the  endless  web  is  forthcoming, 
unrolling  fold  after  fold  of  marvellous  designs  and 
matchless  variety  of  color. 

11.  If,  then,  in  the  oldest  offspring  of  this  imme- 
morial language,  we  find  words  which  we  meet  alike 
in  most  Aryan  languages  of  a  later  growth  and  in 
our  present  living  ones,  unchanged  or  having  under- 
gone such  slight  alterations  that  any  intelligent  per- 


6o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

son  will  immediately  know  them, — and  if  those 
words,  all  or  neaYly  all,  concern  the  most  essential 
and  therefore  most  ordinary  features  of  social  and 
domestic  life,  the  simplest  pursuits  and  relations  and 
chief  necessaries  of  our  material  existence — have  we 
not  there  evidence  amounting  to  proof,  that  the  rela- 
tions determined  by  those  words  existed,  that  the 
things  called  by  those  names  were  in  use,  the  actions 
expressed  by  those  verbs  were  habitually  done, 
amongst  and  by  those  men,  the  ancestors  of  many  of 
us,  several,  nay,  many  thousands  of  years  ago  ?  And 
are  not  the  "  points  "  thus  obtained  sufficient,  lack- 
ing any  visible  or  tangible  materials,  to  arrive  at 
something  much  more  substantial  and  reliable  than 
mere  conjecture  on  what  the  life,  pursuits,  and  ideas 
of  those  men  may  and  must  have  been  ?  Could  we 
apply  the  test  to  the  short  sketch  from  which  we 
started,  it  would  bear  out  every  single  word  of  it, — 
literally  "  every  word,"  for  it  is  composed  of  noth- 
ing but  words,  which  have  been  transmitted  from 
the  original  language  to  all  the  languages  of  the 
Aryan  stock,  /.  e.,  later  Sanskrit  and  the  Hindu  dia- 
lects, ancient  Avestan  and  modern  Persian,  and  the 
tongues  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  Teutonic,  Slavic,  and 
Celtic  branches. 

12.  Almost  everybody  will  have  noticed  that 
words  go  in  families.  That  is — several  words,  and 
sometimes  a  great  many,  are  connected  with  or 
derived  from  one  another,  all  expressing  different 
forms  or  shadings  of  one  common  fundamental 
idea.  On  examining  such  words  more  closely,  it 
will  turn  out  that  this  common  idea  resides  in  a  cer- 


THE  ARYAS.  6 1 

tain  combination  of  sounds  which  will  be  found  in 
all.  This  combination  we  detach  from  the  words  to 
which  it  gives  their  general  meaning,  and  call  it  "  a 
root."  Let  us  take  as  an  example  the  following  words : 
'^  stay,  "stand,  stable,  stiff,  stile,  stakvart,  staff,  stick, 
stack,  stump,  stem,  stool,  stead,  state,  station,  statue, 
statute,  stoic,''  and  many  more,  with  all  their  numer- 
ous derivatives,  like  steady,  unsteady,  unstable,  stand- 
ard, statuary,  statutory,  etc.  Different  as  these 
words  are,  they  all  ring  the  changes  on  one  central 
idea — that  of  permanence,  stability,  remaining  fixed 
in  one  place.  It  will  readily  be  seen  that  this 
central  idea  is  conveyed  by  the  combination  ST, 
which  is  as  the  soul  of  all  these  words.  In  philo- 
logical parlance,  ST  is  "  the  root  from  which  they  all 
sprang  "  ;  these  and  a  vast  number  more,  for  ST  being 
a  Sanskrit  root,  it  runs  through  all  the  Aryan  lan- 
guages, ancient  and  modern,  and  is  in  each  unusually 
prolific  ;  if  counted,  the  words  to  which  it  serves  as 
family  bond,  would  go  into  the  hundreds.  Let  us 
now  take  the  Sanskrit  root  AR,  of  which  the  general 
and  original  meaning  is  "  plough."  We  find  it  in- 
tact in  Latin  and  Italian  arare,  in  Slavic  arati — "  to 
plough  "  ;  in  Greek  arotron,  Latin  aratrum,  Tchekh 
(so-called  Bohemian,  a  Slavic  language)  oradlo — "  a 
plough  "  ;  in  English  arable — "  fit  to  be  ploughed  "  ; 
in  Greek  aroura,  Latin  arvuvi — "  a  ploughed  field," 
whence  aroma,  originally  beyond  a  doubt  signifying 
the  peculiar  fragrance  of  a  ploughed  field,  of  the 
loose,  moist,  upturned  earth.  It  has  even  been  sug- 
gested— but  the  attractive  suggestion  has  unfortu- 
nately  not    proved    capable    of  sufficient    scientific 


w 


62  VEDIC  INDIA. 

proof — that  the  name  Arya  itself  is  connected  with 
this  root,  and  that  the  people  who  took  it  for 
their  own  originally  meant  to  call  themselves  "  the 
people  who  plough,"  in  proud  distinction  from 
their  sheep-raising,  steppe-roaming,  robber-neigh- 
bors, the  Tura.'  At  the  time  at  which  we  begin 
to  know  them,  "  Arya  "  meajit  "  noble,"  "  exalted," 
"  venerable  "  ;  the  name  had  become  something  al- 
most sacred,  it  embodied  the  Aryan  peoples'  national  ^ 
pride, — or  a  feeling  deeper  still,  more  intense,  en- 
during, and  inspiring  :  their  pride  of  race,  and  that 
down  to  a  very  late  period  ;  for  was  not  Dareios, 
the  great  Persian  king,  careful  to  preface  his  family 
genealogy  in  his  famous  inscriptions  by  the  state- 
ment :  "  I  am  an  Arya,  the  son  of  an  Arya  "  ? 

13.  Neither  space  nor  the  scope  of  the  present 
work  allow  of  our  taking  up  the  above  sketch  and 
justifying  every  feature  of  it  by  a  thorough  study  of 
each  of  the  words  that  suggest  it.  That  would  be 
simply  embarking  on  a  treatise  of  comparative  phi- 
lology. Still,  as  words  have  of  late  acquired  such 
immense  importance  in  the  study  of  what  may  be 
called  "  prehistoric  history  "—an  importance  as  great 
as  the  things  found  in  the  caves,  mounds,  and  bar- 
rows that  sheltered  primitive  humanity  in  life  and 
death,  or,  in  geology,  the  fossils  and  imprints  which 
reveal  the  meaning  of  the  various  rocks  and 
strata," — it  will    not    be    an   unnecessary    digression, 

'  "Arya  and  Tura,"  in  later  historical  times  "  Eran  and  Turan;" 
the  same  distinction  ever,  the  same  opposition,  the  same  battle-cry. 
{Erdn,  Erania)i  is  only  a  slightly  altered  form  of  Aryan  ;  so  is  Erin^ 
the  national  name  of  /rt'land.) 


THE  ARYAS.  63 

if  we  pause  awhile  to  trace  a  few  of  the  words  which 
are  our  only  key,  and  by  no  means  an  insufficient 
one,  to  the  material  and  intellectual  life  of  the  early 
Aryan  world.  This  brief  review  will  at  the  same 
time  serve  to  indicate  and  illustrate  the  processes  of 
philological  research  in  their  special  bearings  on 
historical  reconstruction. 

14.  We  have  already  had  a  hint  of  the  great  im- 
portance which  attached  to  the  cow  as  a  factor  in 
the  life  of  early  Aryan  communities.  Indeed  we 
may  safely  proclaim  the  cow  the  characteristic 
animal  of  the  Aryan  race.  We  find  it  the  companion 
of  every  Aryan  people,  one  of  the  chief  conditions  of 
their  existence  ;  it  stands  to  the  Aryas  in  exactly 
the  same  relation  that  the  sheep  does  to  the  Tura- 
nians. The  very  fact  of  the  cow's  predominance  in 
a  people's  life  is  sufficient  proof  of  that  people's 
having  reached  the  settled  stage  of  existence — the 
pastoral-farming,  because  the  cow,  unlike  the  sheep, 
is  unfit  for  a  nomadic  life  and  incapable  of  bear- 
ing the  hardship  of  continual  change  and  march- 
ing. Those  who  use  oxen  as  beasts  of  burden  and 
draught  know  very  well  that  they  have  to  be  driven 
at  an  easy  pace,  by  short  stages,  and  moreover  posi- 
tively require  one  full  day  of  rest  at  least  in  seven  or 
eight,  if  they  are  to  be  kept  in  anything  like  toler- 
able condition.  They  are  also  very  fastidious  as  to 
their  food,  and  the  least  neglect  in  the  care  of  them, 
the  least  pressure  of  overwork,  cause  loss  of  flesh 
and  spirits,  agonizingly  sore  hoofs,  then  illness  and 
death  in  a  very  short  time. 

15.  The  Sanskrit  name  of  the  cow  is  GO,  plural 


64  VEDIC  INDIA. 

GAVAS,  and  this  short  radical  we  find  running,  with 
the  modifications  consequent  on  the  character  of 
each,  through  most  of  our  languages  :  Old  German 
chuo,  modern  German  kuh,  English  coiv.  The  Slavic 
branch  has  preserved  it,  like  a  great  many  others,  in 
the  form  most  resembling  the  original.  Thus,  Old 
Slavic  has  govyado,  a  herd  ;  modern  Servian  gdve- 
dar,  a  cow-herd  ;  Russian,  govyadina, — beef,  the 
flesh  of  cows  and  oxen;  then  gospodln,  master; 
gospbd  (i),  the  Lord  ;  gospodar,  the  title  given  to 
South  Slavic  rulers  ;  all  meaning  originally  "  master 
of  cows,"  and  corresponding  to  the  Old  Sanskrit 
gopa,  which  first  means  a  herdsman,  and  later  a 
chieftain,  a  king/  By  the  same  evolution  of  com- 
pound words  from  a  simple  radical,  following  on  the 
evolution  of  various  more  or  less  subtle  shades  of 
meaning  from  the  plain  meaning  of  the  original 
radical,  the  Sanskrit  word  gotra,  literally  "  the  en- 
closure which  protects  a  herd  from  thieves  and 
keeps  it  from  straying,"  gradually  comes  to  desig- 
nate a  family,  then  a  tribe,  /.  e.,  the  people  who  live 
behind  the  same  walls. 

16.  Let  us  linger  awhile  on  a  few  of  the  names 
expressing  the  closest  of  domestic  ties,  for  they  will 
give  us  a  precious  insight  into  the  Aryas'  moral  life, 
and  help  us  realize  what  we  cannot  sufficiently  im- 
press on  our  minds — that,  contrary  to   all  first  (a 

'  The  association  of  ideas  between  "  a  herdsman  " — a  leader,  ruler 
of  cattle, — and  "  a  king,"  a  leader,  ruler  of  men,  is  obvious  and 
close  ;  see  the  Homeric  poems,  where  the  kings,  especially  the  more 
wealthy  and  powerful,  are  regularly  titled  "  shepherds,"  or  "pastors 
of  men." 


THE  ARYAS,  65 

priori)  impressions  and  plausible  prejudice  born  of 
faulty -training,  in  adjusting  our  historical  glasses  to 
an  unhistorical, — otherwise  prehistorical,  i.  e.,  un- 
monumental,  undocumented — antiquity,  the  race  we 
have  to  deal  with  was  far  from  being  a  primitive — 
or,  better,  primary — block  of  humanity,  unshaped, 
save  to  the  lowest  uses  of  material  service  to  the  one 
instinct  of  preserving  life,  with  none  as  yet  of  the  re- 
fining, ennobling  stirrings  of  the  spirit  which  come 
from  experience,  length  of  days,  and  leisure  from 
bodily  toil, — leisure  to  look  and  listen,  to  think,  re- 
member, feel.  Rough-hewn  they  surely  were,  but  they 
were  the  finest  material  ever  provided  for  chisel  to 
work  upon,  and  the  work  had  been  going  on  for  more 
years — nay,  centuries,  than  we  at  first  feel  at  all 
willing  to  concede.  Whenever  we  address  our 
thoughts  to  the  human  race  of  a  few  thousand  years 
back,  we  pucker  our  lips  into  a  superciliously  con- 
descending smile,  and  admire  how  many  fine  things 
our  race  could  do  and  say  when  it  was  so  very  young 
and,  naturally,  ignorant.  We  should  know  better  by 
this  time  ;  for  has  not  Chaldea — to  take  but  one 
branch — taught  us  that  as  far  as  six  or  seven  thou- 
sand years  ago  great  civilizations  had  not  only 
dawned  or  begun  to  bloom,  but  some  had  reached 
and  even  passed  their  maturity  and  were  declining 
into  that  inevitable  doom  of  decay  into  which  others 
were  to  follow  them  and  some,  to  a  certainty,  had 
preceded  them.  A  very  little  calculation  of  probabili- 
ties will  show  us  that  mankind,  at  the  very  earliest 
point  at  which  our  eager  grasp  can  secure  the  first 
slight  hold  of  it,  was  not  young,  and  when  it  had 
5 


66  VEDIC  INDIA. 

reached,  say,  the  cave-dwelling  stage,  had  probably 
existed,  in  the  dignity  of  speaking,  fire-using  Man, 
more  centuries  than  separate  it  from  ourselves.  To 
stand  out  at  all  where  the  long  slim  ray  from  the 
prying  bull's-eye  of  modern  research,  historic  or  pre- 
historic, can,  however  feebly,  reach  it,  the  race — or 
a  race — must  have  emerged  out  of  the  colorless  past 
of  tentative  groping,  into  a  stage  of  positive  achieve- 
ment of  some  kind — for  without  that,  without  some- 
thing to  hold  to,  our  most  pressing  questionings 
must  have  been  eluded  and  have  been  met  by 
nought  but  the  silence  of  the  grave. 

17.  Let  us  then  try  to  open  the  intellectual  treas- 
ure-house of  our  earliest  forebears  with  the  golden 
keys  they  left  for  our  use  :  their  words.  We  may 
not  yet  enquire  what  they  did  with  them ;  that  they 
Jiad  them  is  their  crowning  glory  and  our  gain,  even 
greater  than  the  wonders  of  literature  in  which 
they  culminated.  For,  in  the  words  of  one  of  the 
greatest  masters  of  words,  their  histories  and  their 
uses,*  "  our  poets  make  poems  out  of  words,  but 
every  word,  if  carefully  examined,  will  turn  out  to  be 
itself  a  poem,  a  record  of  a  deed  done  or  of  a  thought 
thought  by  those  to  whom  we  owe  the  whole  of  our 
intellectual  inheritance.  .  .  ."  Take,  for  instance, 
the  word  PITAR — father,  the  meaning  of  which  is 
threefold — "  feeder,"  "  protector,"  *'  ruler  "  :  does 
not  the  underlying  connection  between  these  at  the 
first  glance  different  conceptions  already  warrant,  by 
the  subtlety  and  depth  of  observation  which  they 

'  Max  Miiller,  Biographies  of  Words,  Introduction. 


THE  ARYAS.  6/ 

betray,  the  same  writer's  enthusiastic  assertion ' : 
"Wherever  we  analyze  language  in  a  scholarlike 
spirit  ...  we  shall  find  in  it  the  key  to  some 
of  the  deepest  secrets  of  the  human  mind.  .  .  ." 
And  does  it  not  speak  for  an  already  highly  de- 
veloped moral  feeling  that  the  root  PA,  from  which 
is  formed  pitar,  the  most  generally  used  word  for 
"  father,"  does  not  mean  "  to  give  birth  "  but  to  pro- 
tect, to  support,  showing  how  entirely  the  Aryan 
father  realized  and  accepted  the  idea  of  duty  and  re- 
sponsibility towards  those  who  belonged  to  him  by  the 
most  sacred  of  human  ties.  Each  duty  gives  corre- 
sponding rights,  just  as  each  right  imposes  a  duty, 
that  the  eternal  fitness  and  balance  of  things  may 
be  maintained,  that  universal  dualism,  moral  and 
physical,  which  is  the  very  root  and  soul  of  the 
world.^  And  thus  it  is  that  it  has  been  admitted 
from  all  time  as  self-evident  that  he  who  fulfils  the 
duty  of  supporting  and  protecting  a  family,  has  the 
undisputed  right  of  governing  it,  of  imposing  his  will 
as  the  law  of  those  who  depend  on  his  toil  and  affec- 
tion for  their  sustenance,  comfort,  and  safety.  Hence 
pati,  "  master."  This  is,  in  few  words,  a  complete 
definition  of  the  word  "patriarch,"  in  which  the 
Greeks,  by  a  trick  of  language  familiar  to  them,  and, 
among  the  moderns,  to  the  Germans,  have  deftly 
embodied  the  two  indivisible  conceptions :  "  father 
and  ruler."' 

•  /did. 

'  See  Story  of  Assyria,  p.  io6. 

^The  word  "  Patriarch"  occurs   for  the  first  time  in  the  Septua- 
gint,  consequently  came  into  use  at  a  period  much  later  than  the 


68  VEDIC  INDIA. 

This  word  "pitar"  we  can  easily  pursue  through 
most  Aryan  languages,  ancient  and  modern,  although, 
as  is  the  manner  of  words  in  their  wanderings,  it  now 
takes  on  a  letter,  now  drops  one,  now  alters  a  vowel 
or  even  some  of  its  consonants,  until  it  becomes 
barely  recognizable  to  the  trained  eye  and  ear  of  the 
philologist.  Thus  Sanskrit /?V^?r  {h.MQ'sX'A.n pitar  also), 
can  hardly  fail  to  be  at  once  identified  in  pater  (Greek 
and  Latin),  can  easily  be  known  in  vatcr  dixxd  father, 
the  form  derived  by  the  two  northern  sister  languages 
from  the  old  T cwton'xc  fadar ;  the  relationship  is  not 
quite  as  obvious  m  padre  (Spanish  and  Italian),  and 
especially  in  the  Yvtwchpere  ;  indeed,  the  three  south- 
ern Latin  sister-tongues  may  be  said  to  have  adopted 
decided  corruptions  of  the  original  word  ;  and  when 
we  come  to  Celtic  atJiir,  athar  (Gaelic,  Welsh,  Irish, 
Armorican),  nothing  short  of  scientific  training  will 
suffice  to  establish  the  identity. 

i8.  The  word  for  "  mother  "  is  even  more  gener- 
ally in  use  in  the  various  Aryan  languages,  and  has 
undergone  fewer  alterations.  The  Sanskrit  indidr, 
unchanged  in  Avestan  indtar,  except  in  accent, 
scarcely  deviates  in  the  Greek  wr/rr  and  Latin  mater, 
which  abides  in  the  Slavic  mater,  only  slightly  short- 
golden  age  of  Greek  speech.  Its  immediate  derivation — or  rather 
composition — is  irom.  patrid  or pdtra,  "  a  clan,  a  tribe,"  and  arkhed, 
"  to  rule, "giving  the  meaning,  "  ruler  of  a  clan  or  tribe."  This,  how- 
ever, in  no  wise  impairs  the  remoter,  original  association  of  ideas 
between  pater,  "  father,''  2i\\d pa/rid,  "  tribe  "  ;  in  fact,  it  still  more 
clearly  establishes  the  twofold — domestic  and  political — character  of 
the  word  patrid,  "  clan," — the  family  grown  into  the  tribe,  and  the 
father  of  the  one  into  the  ruler  of  the  other.  Another  enlargement — 
and  the  tribe  has  become  a  people,  the  patriarch  a  king. 


THE  ARYAS.  69 

ened  by  modern  Russian  into  mati,  very  recogniza- 
ble for  once  in  the  Celtic  mat  hi,  even  more  than  in 
the  German  mutter^  and  English  mother,  from  Old 
Teutonic  inuotar ;  but  corrupted  in  the  Spanish  and 
Italian  )iiadre,?i.\\d  the  French  mere,  after  exactly  the 
same  fashion  as  the  word  for  "  father," — evidently 
with  conscious  intention  to  establish  a  symmetry 
akin  to  alliteration — a  rhyme — a  trick  of  language  by 
which  it  pleased  a  slightly  barbaric  ear  and  taste  to 
couple  together  kindred  objects  or  ideas.  The  root 
of  this  multiform  word  is  MA,  *' to  make,"  and  also 
"to  measure."  A  combination  particularly  sugges- 
tive, since  the  mother,  she  who  "  has  given  birth,"  is 
also  she  who  ''  measures,"  "  portions  out  "  the  pro- 
visions, the  food,  and  the  other  necessaries  of  life  to 
the  various  members  of  the  household.  From  the 
same  root  we  have  mas,  the  moon,  the  measurer  of 
time,  so  that  the  same  word  means  "  moon  "  and 
"  month,"  as  it  still  does  in  its  Slavic  form,  "  mesiats." 
19.  The  other  words  expressing  near  relationship 
are  no  less  generally  preserved  in  the  several  Aryan 
languages.  To  begin  with  :  Sanskrit  bhrdtar — svdsar; 
Avestan,  brdtar — JivanJiar  ;  Greek,  f rater;  (only  the 
word,  at  the  stage  of  which  it  comes  under  our  ken, 
had  become  diverted  from  its  original  meaning  and 
was  used  in  a  political  or  social  sense,  to  designate  a 
member  of  one  of  the  tribes  or  brotherhoods — fratri- 
as — into  which  citizens  were  divided.  For  the  family 
relationship  of  both  brother  and  sister  the  Greeks 
adopted  an  entirely  different  word).  Latin,  frater 
— soror ;  Old  Teutonic,  brothar — svistar ;  modern 
German,      bruder — schzvester  ;      English,     brother — 


/ 

yo  VEDIC  INDIA. 

sister ;  YidXxdirv,  frate,  fratcllo — suora,  sorella.  (Frate 
and  suora  are  used  exclusively  to  designat?^  religious 
brotherhood  and  sisterhood,  "  monk "  "  nun." 
Frate  in  this  respect  answers  to  the  English /Vmr. J 
Slavic  and  Russian,  brat — sestra ;  Celtic,  brdtJiir — 
suir ;  French,  frere — sceur.  Take  further  Sanskrit, 
diihitar  ;  Avestan,  diigJuiJiar  ;  Greek,  tJmgater  ;  Ger- 
man, tochter ;  '^x\^\^\,daiig}iter  ;  Irish,  ^^^r/  Slavic, 
dusJitcr  (the  pronunciation  cannot  be  understood 
from  the  written  word,  but  must  be  heard  and  imi- 
tated);  Russian,  dbtcher,  dotch  ;  Latin  and  her  chief 
daughter  languages,  Italian,  Spanish,  and  French, 
have  adopted  another  designation,  _/f/m — Jiglia — hija 
—fille. 

20.  The  secondary  family  ties — those  by  marriage 
— are  no  less  nicely  determined — which  in  itself 
speaks  highly  for  an  advanced  state  of  social  order, 
— and  the  words  denoting  them  also  turn  up  in  most 
Aryan  languages,  some  in  many,  others  in  but  a  few. 
One  example  must  satisfy  us :  Sanskrit  devdr, 
"brother-in-law,"  is  almost  unchanged  in  the  Rus- 
sian dever  and  Lithunian  deveris,  and  very  recogniz- 
able in  the  Greek  daer  and  even  the  Latin  levir. 

21.  We  will  conclude  with  a  word  embodying 
bereavement  as  universal  as  the  family  relations,  and 
therefore  reserved  even  more  faithfully  than  many 
others  through  most  languages  of  Aryan  stock  : 
vidhavd,  "  widow  "  ;  German,  wittzve ;  Russian, 
vdova ;  Latin,  vidua ;  Italian,  vedova,  corrupted  by 
Spanish  into  viiida  and  by  French  into  veuve.  A 
word  of  mighty  import,  especially  to  later  and  modern 
India,  as  it  means  "  husbandless,"  and  so  would,  all 


THE  ARYAS.  7 1 

alone,  suffice  to  prove  that  in  enforcing  the  horrible 
practice  of  widow-burning  on  the  ground  of  sacred 
tradition,  the  Brahmans  have  been  guilty  of  heinous 
misrepresentation  ;  for,  if  the  custom  had,  as  they 
assert,  existed  from  the  beginning  of  time,  there  would 
have  been  no  vidJiavds,  no  "  husbandless  women." 
Now  they  not  only  existed,  but,  as  we  shall  see  later 
on,  are  repeatedly  mentioned,  and  once  in  the  reli- 
gious service  attending  the  burial  (or,  later,  the  burn- 
ing) of  the  dead,  explicitly  addressed,  as  returning 
from  the  grave  or  the  pyre  to  stay  among  the  living. 
All  this  in  the  book  which  the  Brahmans  regard  as 
the  holiest  in  all  their  sacred  literature.  Further- 
more, in  their  law-books,  also  invested  with  sacred- 
ness,  widows  are  provided  and  legislated  for  at  great 
length.  So  that  the  Brahmans  stand  convicted  of 
deliberately  falsifying,  at  least  in  this  one  instance, 
their  own  most  sacred  and,  as  they  believe  and 
assert,  revealed  X^yX's,.  And  thus  the  English  authori- 
ties, merely  through  ignorance  of  the  natives'  literary 
language  and  their  classical  literature,  were  placed  in 
the  atrocious  necessity  of  tolerating  this  abomination 
or  breaking  that  portion  of  their  agreement  with  the 
Hindus  by  which  they  engaged  not  to  interfere  with 
any  of  their  religious  observances.  Now  that  the 
texts  themselves  and  their  correct  interpretation 
have  been  given  to  the  world  at  large  by  the  life- 
long labors  of  our  great  Sanskritists,  the  Govern- 
ment's hands  are  free  to  forbid  and  prevent,  by  armed 
force  if  necessary,  these  unnatural  sacrifices.  The 
abolition  of  the  time-honored  horrors  of  the  widow- 
burning  or  suttee  (more  correctly  written  sati),  yields 


J 2  VEDIC  INDIA. 

US  one  more  convincing  proof  of  what  tremendous 
practical  issues  may  be  waiting  on  the  mere  stiidy  of 
zvords,  patiently,  peacefully  carried  on  by  scholars  in 
their  quiet  studies  and  libraries,  so  remote  in  space 
and  spirit  from  the  battle-places  of  the  workaday 
world. 

22.  It  would  be  easy  to  swell  the  list  of  such  pic- 
turesque and  tell-tale  words.  These  few  instances, 
however,  must  suffice— only  adding  the  remark  that 
the  absence  of  certain  words  can  be  at  times  as 
eloquently  significant  by  the  presumptive  negative 
evidence  it  supplies.  We  called  the  Aryas'  primeval 
home  an  "  inland  home,"  and  later  stated  that 
"  they  had  never  beheld  the  sea  nor  the  ocean." 
This  is  suggested  by  the  fact  that  no  name  for  "  sea  " 
is  found  in  their  earliest  known  language.  That 
name  is  of  later  growth  and  different  in  the  various 
branches  of  the  Aryan  speech,  this  very  difference 
showing  most  curiously  how  one  tribe  was  affected 
by  one  aspect  of  the  new  element,  and  another  by  a 
totally  different,  if  not  opposite  one.  Latin  and 
Greek  call  the  sea  "a  highroad"  pontos,  pontus — 
from  the  same  root  as  pons,  pontis,  "  a  bridge,"  and 
the  Slavic  pont(i),  Russian  put(c),  "  a  road."  But 
the  Slav  does  not  apply  this  name  to  the  sea  ;  that 
he  calls  morie  (Latin  mar,  Italian  and  Spanish  mare, 
French  mer,  German  meer,  hence  English  mere,  "  a 
lake,"  Celtic  miiir),  from  a  Sanskrit  root  meaning 
"  destruction."  A  difference  well  accounted  for, 
when  we  consider  that  the  only  seas  the  Slavs  and 
Teutons  were  acquainted  with  were  the  Black  Sea, 
the  Baltic,  and   the  German  Ocean,  all  rough  and 


THE  ARYAS.  73 

treacherous,  all  renowned  for  their  fierce  tempests, 
which  must  have  been  destructive  indeed  to  small 
and  imperfect  craft, — while  the  fortunate  dweller  on 
the  genial  Mediterranean  shores  well  could  look  at 
the  sea,  not  as  a  barrier,  but  as  a  highroad,  more  use- 
ful for  trade  and  travel  than  any  other  road. 

23.  Now  as  regards  intellectual  achievements  and 
abstract  speculation,  we  must  not  be  too  prompt  to 
depreciate  the  efforts  of  our  fathers  on  this  ground 
on  the  plea  that  there  is  no  common  word  for 
"  thousand  "  in  our  languages, — or,  more  correctly  in 
the  parent  languages  of  ours — Sanskrit,  Greek,  Latin, 
Old  Teutonic  having  each  fabricated  a  word  of  its 
own,  which  their  respective  offspring  dutifully 
adopted  with  the  usual  tribal  alterations.  As  to 
our  Aryan  forebears,  we  cannot  escape  the  inference 
from  this  fact  that  they  could  count  only  up  to  a 
hundred,  the  numerals  so  far  coinciding  in  all  Aryan 
languages  with  almost  comical  regularity.  This, 
however,  is  no  proof  as  yet  that  they  had  no  con- 
ception of  thousands,  or  never  saw  things  assem- 
bled in  so  large  a  number — men,  cattle,  etc.  They 
may  have  known  of  thousands  as  so  many  "  tens  of 
hundreds,"  and  counted  as  we  ourselves  still  do  up 
to  a  certain  point:  twelve  hundred,  eighteen  hun- 
dred, and  even  twenty  hundred,  twenty-five  hun- 
dred, and  so  on.  Furthermore,  the  very  fact  of 
having  invented  a  numeral  system  at  all — and  that 
a  decimal  one ! — is  an  achievement  which  presup- 
poses a  longer  growth  and  evolution  both  of  the 
mind  and  language  than  all  the  wonders  of  abstract 
speculation  which   followed,  and   were  a  necessary 


74  VEDIC  INDIA. 

deduction  from  it,  astronomical  calculations  in- 
cluded. For  every  one  who  has  learned  and  taught 
knows  what  aweary  longtime  the  beginnings  of  any 
science  or  art  take  to  master,  and  that,  once  the  first 
principles  are  really  and  firmly  grasped,  the  rest 
comes  with  a  wonderful  and  ever-increasing  rapidity, 
with  a  rush,  as  it  were,  partly  owing  to  the  training 
which  the  mind  has  undergone  in  the  effort  to  step 
from  "  not  thinking"  to  "thinking,"  and  partly  be- 
cause these  same  "first  principles"  really  contain 
the  whole  art  or  science,  which  is  only  evolved  from 
them,  as  the  variations  from  the  theme,  as  the  play 
from  the  plot,  or  the  plant  from  the  seed. 

24.  One  word  to  conclude  this,  on  the  whole,  in- 
troductory chapter.  We  have  come  to  speak  quite 
familiarly  of  "the  Aryas'  primeval  home,"  of  their 
separations  and  migrations,  as  though  we  knew  all 
about  these  subjects.  We  are,  in  a  sense,  justified 
in  so  speaking  and  imagining,  on  the  testimony 
afforded  by  the  formation  and  evolution  of  lan- 
guages, of  which  we  can,  to  a  great  extent,  pursue 
the  track  over  and  across  the  vast  continent  which, 
though  geographically  one,  has  been  artificially 
divided,  in  conformity  with  political  conditions  and 
school  conveniences  more  than  with  natural  charac- 
teristics, into  two  separate  parts  of  the  world  :  Asia 
and  Europe.  The  division  is  entirely  arbitrary,  for 
there  is  no  boundary  line  south  of  the  Ural  chain, 
and  that  chain  itself,  important  as  it  is,  from  its  posi- 
tion and  the  treasures  it  holds,  is  anything  but  sepa- 
rating or  forbidding.  Of  very  moderate  altitude, 
with  no  towering  summits  or  deep-cut  gorge-passes, 


THE  ARYAS.  75 

its  several  broad,  flat-topped  ridges  slope  down  im- 
perceptibly on  the  European  side,  and  are  by  no 
means  beetling  or  impassable  on  the  Asiatic  side 
either.  This  barrier,  such  as  it  is,  stops  short  far 
north  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  leaving  a  wide  gap  of  flat 
steppeland  invitingly  open  to  roaming  hordes  with 
their  cattle  and  luggage-wagons,  with  only  the  mild 
Ural  River  or  Yai'k  to  keep  up  the  geographical  fic- 
tion of  a  boundary.  Through  this  gap  wave  after 
wave  of  migration  and  invasion  has  rolled  within  the 
range  of  historical  knowledge,  to  break  into  nations 
whose  original  kinship  is  demonstrated  by  their  lan- 
guages. The  induction  is  obvious  that  many  more 
such  waves  than  we  can  at  all  be  aware  of  must  have 
rolled  back  and  forward  in  times  wholly  out  of  the 
reach  of  our  most  searching  methods.  The  diverging 
directions  of  such  migrations — irregularly  timed,  of 
course — as  we  know  of  in  Asia,  and  only  a  few  of 
which  can  have  taken  the  way  of  the  Uralo-Caspian 
Gap  :  to  northwest,  to  west,  to  southwest,  persua- 
sively point  to  a  centre  which,  at  some  incalculably 
remote  period,  must  have  been  the  starting-point  of 
these  departing  Aryan  hives.  Until  within  the  last 
few  years  it  was  the  almost  universally  accepted  the- 
ory that  this  centre, — which  the  lines  of  march  of  the 
several  nations,  as  well  as  their  confronted  mythical 
and  cosmogonical  traditions,  pretty  consistently 
locate  somewhere  in  Central  Asia,  towards  the  high 
but  fertile  tableland  of  the  Pamir  region, — was  also 
the  original  cradle-home  of  the  primeval  Aryas. 
That  question,  owing  to  new  elements  received  into 
the   materials   and  methods  of  prehistoric  research. 


"jC)  VEDIC  INDIA. 

has  been  lately  reopened,  and  treated,  with  varying 
results,  by  many  able  and  erudite  scholars.  But, 
although  each  of  them,  of  course,  honestly  and  tri- 
umphantly believes  that  he  has  arrived  at  the  only 
rational  and  conclusive  solution,  it  is,  as  yet,  impos- 
sible to  say  when  and  in  what  way  the  question  will 
be  finally  and  unanswerably  settled — if  ever  and  at 
all.  Fortunately,  it  is  not  of  the  slightest  practical 
importance  for  general  students  ;  in  other  words,  for 
any  but  specialists  in  ethnology,  craniology,  etc.,  and 
least  of  all  for  the  subject-matter  of  this  volume. 
We  do  not  need  to  pry  into  the  darkness  of  an  in- 
calculable past  beyond  the  centre  of  departure  just 
mentioned,  which  is  the  first  landmark  of  Aryan 
antiquity  touched  with  a  golden  ray  of  the  historical 
dawn.  It  is  sufificient  to  know  that  that  centre,  no 
matter  whence  the  primeval  Aryas  of  all — the  Proto- 
Aryas — may  have  come,  has  been  a  station  on  which 
a  large  portion  of  the  race  must  have  been  sojourners 
for  many,  many  centuries, — that  portion  of  it,  at  all 
events,  of  which  the  two  principal  limbs,  the  leading 
sister  nations  of  the  Aryan  East,  Eranians  and 
Hindus,  divided  almost  within  our  ken,  for  reasons 
easy  to  conjecture,  if  not  to  establish  with  actual 
certainty,  and  some  of  which  have  been  alluded  to 
in  a  former  volume. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   SOURCES   OF   OUR   KNOWLEDGE. 

I.  On  the  31st  of  December,  of  the  year  1600  A.D., 
Queen  EHzabeth  signed  a  charter  incorporating  into 
one  solid  body  the  hitherto  disconnected  and  inde- 
pendent Enghsh  merchants  who  pHed  the  export 
and  import  trade  between  England  and  India, — or 
the  East  Indies,  as  the  Indian  Continent  began  to  be 
called,  to  distinguish  it  from  the  islands  discovered 
a  hundred  years  before  by  Christopher  Columbus 
and  known  ever  since  as  "  the  West  Indies,"  thus 
perpetuating  that  great  man's  geographical  mistake. 
In  virtue  of  this  charter,  125  shareholders,  with  a 
joint  stock  of  iJ" 70,000,  entitled  themselves  "  The 
Governor  and  Company  of  Merchants  of  Lon- 
don Trading  to  the  East  Indies,"  both  charter  and 
privileges  being  granted  for  a  limited  time,  to  be 
renewed  on  application  at  stated  intervals.  Such 
were  the  modest  beginnings  of  that  famous  "  East 
India  Company,"  which  was  to  offer  the  world  the 
unprecedented  spectacle  of  a  private  association 
ruling,  with  sovereign  power  and  rights,  a  land  of  ten 
times  the  population  of  their  mother  country,  sub- 

77 


yS  VEDIC  INDIA. 

jects  in  one  hemisphere,  kings  in  the  other,  treating 
with  royalties  on  an  equal  footing,  levying  armies, 
waging  war  and  making  peace,  signing  treaties,  and 
appointing  a  civil  government. 

2.  Not  that  the  English  Company  was  alone  or 
even  first  in  the  field  or  had  things  its  own  way  in 
India  from  the  beginning.  On  the  contrary,  the 
object  of  its  creation  was  to  counteract  the  influence 
of  the  rival  company  of  Portuguese  merchants,  and 
to  wrest  from  them  some  of  those  profits  and  advan- 
tages which  they  were  monopolizing  ever  since  Vasco 
de  Gama  opened  the  direct  route  to  India,  by  doub- 
ling the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  in  1498.  Through  the 
whole  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Portuguese  had 
enjoyed  an  undisputed  supremacy  in  the  eastern 
seas  and  on  the  Indian  Continent,  ingratiating  them- 
selves with  the  numerous  princes,  Mohammedan  and 
native  Hindu,  extending  their  possessions  by  grants, 
by  purchase,  or  by  actual  force.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  they  contemplated  a  gradual  annexation  of 
province  after  province  and  the  eventual  sovereignty 
of  the  entire  country.  They  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to 
achieve  what  they  schemed,  when  the  English  Com- 
pany came  forward,  enterprising  and  active,  and 
stoutly  equipped  for  vigorous  competition,  and  they 
almost  immediately  began  to  lose  ground  before  the 
new  arrivals,  having  thoroughly  alienated  the  people 
by  their  unscrupulous  dealings,  their  unmitigated 
rapacity,  and  their  ruthless  cruelty  in  seeking  their 
profits  and  enforcing,  by  fire  and  torture,  the  so-called 
conversion  of  the  unfortunate  population  who  had 
received  them  with  unsuspecting  and  generous  hospi- 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  79 

tality.  Step  by  step  the  Portuguese  receded  before 
the  English  company,  one  source  of  wealth  after 
another  was  barred  to  them  until,  in  166 1,  they 
voluntarily  yielded  up  to  the  English  Crown  the  last 
of  their  important  possessions,  the  city  and  district 
of  Bombay,  as  part  of  the  dowry  of  the  Portuguese 
princess  Catharine  of  Braganza  when  she  was  be- 
trothed to  Charles  II.  (Stuart).  So  ignorant  were 
England's  official  statesmen  at  the  time  of  the  value 
of  the  gift,  which  they  regarded  as  a  most  ungainly 
and  unprofitable  appendage,  that  they,  in  their  turn, 
ceded  it  to  the  Company  for  the  ridiculous  consid- 
eration of  an  annual  payment  of  £\o  sterling  ! 

3,  Still,  though  so  easily  rid  of  Portuguese  com- 
petition, the  Company  was  far  from  running  an 
unobstructed  race  for  power  and  wealth.  Their 
example  speedily  fired  other  nations  to  emulation. 
Within  twelve  years  from  their  incorporation  several 
East  India  Companies  had  sprung  up:  a  Dutch,  a 
French,  and  a  Danish  one.  This  last,  however,  as 
well  as  a  German  and  even  a  Swedish  one,  which 
haltingly  brought  up  the  rear  a  full  hundred  years 
later,  never  were  of  sufficient  account  to  molest  the 
English  Company  or  cause  them  any  anxiety.  Not 
so  the  two  former.  The  Dutch,  being  confessedly 
the  foremost  maritime  power  all  through  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  conducting  their  Indian  venture 
not  only  on  enterprising,  but  on  vigorously  aggres- 
sive principles,  proved  most  formidable  neighbors 
and  rivals,  the  more  so  that  they  did  not  confine 
themselves  to  operations  on  the  continent,  but 
swiftly  secured  the  partial  or  entire  possession  of  the 


8o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

numerous  and  inexhaustibly  rich  islands — Ceylon, 
Sumatra,  Java,  and  the  Moluccas — which  stud  the 
Indian  Ocean,  singly  and  in  groups,  forming  a  sort 
of  appendage  to  India  proper  as  well  as  a  peristyle 
to  the  island  world  of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  It  was 
only  after  a  struggle,  sometimes  a  bloody  one,  be- 
tween the  two  companies,  which  lasted  over  a 
century,  that  the  Dutch  gradually  retreated  from 
the  continent  and  centred  all  their  efforts  and  re- 
sources on  the  islands  which  to  this  day  obey  their 
rule.  The  French  Company  was  now  the  only  real 
rival  whom  the  English  were  bound  to  watch  and 
fear,  for  its  ambition  was  directed  to  precisely  the 
same  end  that  they  pursued  themselves  :  undivided 
supremacy  in  this,  the  treasure-land  of  the  East,  and 
as  it  was  frequently  managed  by  men  of  high  ability, 
it  seemed  more  than  once  on  the  point  of  actually 
compassing  its  object.  The  chief  difficulty  it  had  to 
contend  with,  and  one  which  eventually  stranded  it, 
was  the  indifference  of  the  people  at  home  and  the 
heartless  callousness  which  refused  it  assistance  of 
any  sort  at  the  most  critical  moments.  It  so  hap- 
pened that,  in  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
one  of  the  ablest  French  directors,  DUPLEIX,  was 
pitted  against  one  of  England's  most  remarkable 
men,  Governor — later  Lord — Clive.  The  struggle 
between  these  two  men,  in  open  war  and  in  diplo- 
matic efforts  to  secure  the  favor  of  the  most  power- 
ful native  princes,  furnishes  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
pages  of  history.  The  signal  victories  gained  by  the 
Englishmen  at  that  time,  have  been  set  down  as  the 
beginning  of  the  modern  British  Empire  in  India, 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR   KNOWLEDGE.  8 1 

for,  the  French  Company  once  beaten  from  the  field, 
the  competition  was  virtually  at  an  end,  and  the 
French  possessions  do  not  interfere  with  the  British 
rule  any  more  than  the  few  miles  of  land  which  the 
Portuguese  still  own  on  the  western  shore. 

4.  That  this  rule  henceforth  became  firmly  estab- 
lished and  was  more  or  less  willingly  submitted  to 
by  the  people  of  India  and  such  of  the  native  princes 
who  were  still  allowed,  as  allies  or  vassals  of  the 
Company,  a  semblance  of  independence  and  a  lim- 
ited range  of  power,  England  owed  to  the  men  who, 
at  this  particularly  critical  period,  were  invested  with 
supreme  authority.  It  was  desirable  that  the  con- 
quest by  force  of  arms  should  be  followed  up  by  a 
wise  and  mild  civil  administration,  and  it  was  owing 
to  the  Company's  good  fortune  more  than  their  wis- 
dom that,  for  once,  the  Indian  offices  in  their  gift 
were  filled  by  a  set  of  men  such  as  seldom  are 
brought  together  to  co-operate  in  a  common  field  of 
action, — emphatically  the  right  men  in  the  right 
places.  Lord  Clive's  successor,  the  illustrious  and 
highly  cultured  Warren  HASTINGS,  seems  to  have 
been  the  first  English  governor  who  took  pains  to 
understand  the  people  he  ruled.  He  was  not  an 
Orientalist,  nor  a  scholar  at  all,  either  generally  or 
specially.  Had  he  been,  he  would  have  been  far  less 
well  fitted  either  for  his  executive  duties  or  for  the 
part  of  sympathizing  and  impartial  patronage  into 
which  he  quite  naturally  fell  towards  those  men, 
officially  his  subordinates,  whose  studies  were  of 
such  material  assistance  to  him  in  compassing  his 
noble  ends.     As  a  private  man,   Warren  Hastings 

6 


82  VEDIC  INDIA. 

was  an  enlightened  and  refined  amateur  ;  as  a  states- 
man and  the  supreme  ruler  of  a  huge  so-called  bar- 
barous land,  whose  inhabitants  had,  up  to  him,  been 
looked  on  as  so  many  million  beasts  of  drought  or 
burden,  or — worse  for  them  still — living  treasure- 
casks,  to  be  tapped,  and  staved  in,  and  rifled  of  their 
contents  by  all  and  any  means,  he  quickly  gauged 
the  importance  of  the  unexpected  help  that  was  thus 
almost  providentially  tendered  him  towards  his 
great  aim  :  learning  to  understand  the  people  and 
then  govern  them  in  accordance  with  modern  humane 
standards. 

5.  But  how  do  justice,  wisely,  comprehensively,  to 
a  people  about  whom  one  does  not  know  the  first 
thing?  whose  origin,  history,  worship,  whose  beliefs, 
views,  modes  of  thought  and  life,  are  all  a  blank ; 
whose  manners  and  customs  are  looked  down  on 
from  the  foreigner's  standpoint,  as  being  all  wrong, 
absurd,  laughable,  and  not  for  one  moment  to  be 
considered  or  respected,  simply  because  they  are 
unlike  his  own  ;  whose  laws  .  .  .  but  their  laws 
are  unknown,  as  is  their  literary  language — if  they 
have  a  literature,  a  doubtful,  or  rather  hitherto  un- 
mooted  point.  So,  with  the  best  will,  nothing  re- 
mains to  the  European  governor,  in  his  helpless 
ignorance,  but  to  judge  the  cases  that  come  before 
him,  to  the  best  of  his  ability,  according  to  his  own 
country's  laws,  as  unknown  and  strange  to  the 
people  as  theirs  are  to  him,  or, — if  thrown  on  his 
own  discretion,  after  standards  of  modern  Western 
thought  and  manners,  which  fit  the  Oriental's  mind 
and   life   about   as  well  as   the    European   garb    his 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  83 

bodily  habits  and  sense  of  beauty  and  fitness. 
Chance,  which,  in  the  vast  field  of  Oriental  discovery 
has,  from  the  beginning,  played  so  predominant  a 
part,  here  again  befriended  the  earnest  searchers,  by 
frequently  putting  unlooked  for  opportunities  in 
their  way,  or  placing  within  their  reach  precious 
finds  of  which  they  learned  the  value  and  the  bear- 
ing only  in  using  them,  sometimes  at  first  with  quite 
a  different  object  from  that  to  which  they  were  led 
by  the  threads  thrust  into  their  searching  hands. 
Of  how  one  may,  in  such  studies,  set  out  to  look  for 
one  thing,  and  blunder  on  another,  far  richer  and 
more  valuable,  we  have  an  amusing  instance  on  rec- 
ord in  an  experience  of  Sir  William  Jones,  which 
opened  to  the  amazed  scholars  of  Europe  the  vast  and 
hitherto  unsuspected  world  of  Indian  fine  literature. 
6.  It  was  scarcely  five  years  since  Sir  William's 
appointment  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Bengal,  and 
four  since  the  foundation  of  the  Bengal  Asiatic  So- 
ciety (1784),  and  in  this  short  period  the  great  Arabic 
and  Persian  scholar,  who  had  brought  to  his  com- 
paratively late  vocation — the  law,  the  same  earnest- 
ness, thoroughness,  and  facility  that  had  so  early 
lifted  him  to  the  summit  in  his  beloved  Oriental  and 
linguistic  studies,  had  very  nearly  mastered  the  in- 
tricate and  unfamiliar  Sanskrit  tongue.  Not  that  it 
was  of  much  practical  use  in  the  transaction  of  cur- 
rent court  business,  for,  as  is  perhaps  not  generally 
known  except  to  special  students,  Sanskrit  is  a  dead 
language,  which  stands  to  modern  Hindustanee  in  the 
relation  of  Latin  to  Italian  ;  but  so  much  was  known, 
that  the  entire  body  of  native  high-standard  litera- 


84  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ture,  classical  or  special,  was  enshrined  in  that  lan- 
guage, and  Sir  William,  with  his  usual  intrepidity, 
undertook  an  exhaustive  study  of  India's  national 
legislation,  an  intimate  knowledge  of  which  was 
indispensable  to  a  rational  and  humane  adminis- 
tration. As  scholarly  qua-lifications  and  competitive 
examinations  were  not  dreamt  of  then  as  require- 
ments for  Indian  appointments,  it  was  necessary — if 
the  good  work  now  inaugurated  was  not  to  remain 
merely  the  temporary  achievement  of  an  exceptional 
group  of  men,  to  be  obliterated  by  the  ignorance  of 
their  successors — to  place  that  knowledge  within 
every  functionary's  reach,  by  transferring  it  into  the 
English  language.  This  gigantic  task  resulted  in 
Jones'  famous  DIGEST  OF  HINDU  LAWS, — which, 
however,  he  was  not  permitted  to  complete, — and  in 
the  translation  of  the  INSTITUTES  OF  Manu,  the 
code  most  widely  acknowledged  in  India.  This 
work,  the  last  of  a  life  heaped  to  overflowing  with 
noble  labor,  but  shortened  by  the  long,  never  relax- 
ing strain  under  a  homicidal  climate,  was  published 
just  before  his  death,  in  1790.  It  had  for  years  been 
his  pet  project,  and,  the  better  to  fit  himself  for  it, 
he  had  devoted  his  few  hours  of  comparative  leisure 
to  literary  and  linguistic  studies  in  the  seemingly 
boundless  field  of  Sanskrit  scholarship. 

7.  Once,  when  so  employed,  under  the  guidance  of 
a  competent  and  intelligent  Brahman  master.  Sir 
William  bethought  him  of  a  passage  in  a  well- 
known  collection  of  Catholic  missionaries'  letters 
about  certain  "  books  called  Ndtac  "  and  supposed  to 
"  contain  a  large  portion  of  ancient  history,  without 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  85 

any  mixture  of  fable."  As  nothing  is  so  hard  to  get 
in  all  the  huge  mass  of  Sanskrit  writing  as  a  crumb 
of  real  history,  he  made  inquiries,  having  a  strong 
inducement,  as  he  says  himself,  in  his  desire  to  learn 
anything  that  might  in  any  way  be  connected  with 
the  administration  of  justice.  But  he  could  not  make 
much  of  the  information  that  was  given  him,  except 
that  those  books  were  not  histories  but  abounded 
with  fables,  and  consisted  of  conversations,  in  prose 
and  verse,  on  an  infinite  variety  of  subjects,  and  in 
various  dialects  of  India,  "  from  which  he  naturally 
concluded  that  they  were  some  sort  of  dialogues  on 
moral  and  literary  topics,"  until  a  more  than  usually 
observant  and  intelligent  Brahman,  he  goes  on  to  re- 
late, "  removed  all  his  doubts  and  gave  him  no  less 
delight  than  surprise  by  telling  him  that  the  English 
had  compositions  of  the  same  sort,  which  were  pub- 
licly represented  at  Calcutta  and  bore  the  name,  as  he 
had  been  informed,  of  plays.  .  .  ."  Naturally,  Sir 
William  asked  which  was  the  most  popular  of  these 
Natakas  or  dramas,  and  was  answered  "  THE  RiNG 
OF  Shakuntala."    Whereupon,  he  proceeds  to  tell, 

"  I  soon  procured  a  correct  copy,  and,  assisted  by  my  teacher, 
began  with  translating  it  verbally  into  Latin,  which  bears  so  great  a 
resemblance  to  Sanskrit  that  it  is  more  convenient  than  any  modern 
language  for  a  scrupulous  interlineary  version.  I  then  turned  it  word 
for  word  into  English,  and  afterwards,  without  adding  or  suppressing 
any  material  sentence,  disengaged  it  from  the  stiffness  of  a  foreign 
idiom,  and  prepared  the  faithful  translation  of  the  Indian  drama, 
which  I  now  present  to  the  public." 

8.  Thus,  out  of  something  very  like  a  grammar 
exercise,  came  a  revelation  of  beauty  and  high  art, 
the  unpretending  form  of  which  enhanced  its  effect 


86  VEDIC  INDIA. 

on  the  literary  and  scholarly  world  of  the  West. 
"  Shakuntala "  has  been  translated  into  nearly  all 
European  languages,  sometimes  in  exquisite  verse — 
but  for  years  was  known  only  from  the  great  lawyer's 
almost  interlinear  prose  rendering,  and  in  this  sim- 
ple garb  aroused  unbounded  enthusiasm  and  aston- 
ishment. Needless  to  say  what  a  sudden  lift  was 
given  in  public  opinion  to  the  hitherto  despised 
"  natives  "  of  a  land  valued  merely  for  its  wealth,  by 
the  discovery  that,  instead  of  the  rude  attempts  at 
poetical  expression  with  which  the  most  liberal  were 
willing  to  credit  them,  they  possessed  a  fine  litera- 
ture as  abundant,  if  not  as  varied,  as  any  in  the  West 
— older,  too,  than  any,  not  excepting  the  so-called 
classical  ones,  glittering  with  all  the  finish  and  the 
brilliancy  of  their  country's  own  rainbow-hued 
thousand-faceted  gems.  For,  with  Shakuntala,  the 
Hindu  theatre  was  discovered,  a  mine  as  rich  in 
legend  and  mythic  lore  as  the  Greek  and  Elizabethan 
dramas.  With  the  latter,  indeed,  as  piece  after  piece 
came  to  light,  the  Hindu  drama  was  found  to  have 
astonishing  afiRnities,  not  only  in  the  general  manner 
of  treating  the  subject  and  working  the  plot,  in  the 
natural,  unconstrained  development  of  the  characters 
and  sequence  of  events,  but  down  to  details  of  form. 
"  They  are  all  in  verse,"  says  Sir  William  Jones, 
who,  being  once  put  on  the  right  track,  did  not,  we 
may  be  sure,  rest  content  with  one  specimen,  "where 
the  dialogue  is  elevated,  and  in  prose  where  it  is 
familiar:  the  men  of  rank  and  learning  are  repre- 
sented as  speaking  pure  Sanskrit,  and  the  women 
Prakrit,  which  is  little  more  than  the  language  of  the 


THE   SOURCES   OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  87 

Brahmans  melted  down  by  a  careful  articulation  to 
the  softness  of  Italian  ;  while  the  low  persons  of  the 
drama  speak  the  vulgar  dialects  of  the  several  prov- 
inces which  they  are  supposed  to  inhabit."  Does 
not  this  description  apply  word  for  word  to  the 
Shakespearian  drama  ?  Not  even  prologues  and 
epilogues  are  wanting — addresses  to  the  audience  by 
the  manager,  a  chief  actor,  or  an  allegorical  character, 
— with  explanations  of  matters  pertaining  to  the 
play,  or  the  usual  petitions  for  an  indulgent  hearing 
and  kind  forbearance  with  shortcomings,  while  the 
remarks  or  expressions  of  feeling  thrown  in  by  the 
secondary  characters — friends,  spectators,  and  the 
like — strongly  remind  us  of  the  Greek  chorus.' 

'  Not  that  any  intrinsic  connection  between  the  two  dramas  can  be 
supposed  or  admitted.  Some  few  scholars,  indeed,  advance  the 
hypothesis  that  the  Hindu  drama  may  have  been  influenced  by  its 
great  Greek  predecessor.  They  find  a  suggestion  to  that  effect  in 
the  circumstance  that  Greek  female  slaves  are  mentioned  in  one 
play, — that  the  Hindu  play,  like  the  Greek  tragedy,  took  for  its 
heroes  royal  or  semi-divine  personages,  and  its  subjects  from  the  cycle 
of  national  myth  and  heroic  romance.  That  the  drama  flourished  in 
the  Western  provinces  and  along  the  Western  coastland,  while  it  had 
no  hold  at  all  on  the  Eastern  portion  of  India,  seems  to  them  to 
confirm  their  hypothesis.  But  serious  researches  have  resulted  in 
the  rejection  of  any  direct  action  or  intrinsic  affinity.  A  study  of  the 
Hindu  drama  does  not  enter  into  the  scope  of  this  volume,  except 
incidentally  as  one  of  the  sources  of  our  knowledge  of  the  country 
and  people.  But  it  is  a  fascinating  subject,  on  which  full  informa- 
tion can  be  obtained  in  the  most  attractive  form  from  the  following 
works:  The  Hindu  Theatre  of  W.  H.  Wilson,  with  a  most  valu- 
able introduction  ;  the  chapter  on  the  same  subject  in  Schroeder's 
popular  but  scholarly  and  reliable  lectures,  Indiens  Literatiir  und 
Cultttr  ;  in  Etudes  de  Litterature  Sanscrite  by  Philibert  Souppe  ;  also 
Le  Thedtre  Indien  (Paris,  1890),  by  Sylvain  Levy. 


88  VEI)IC  INDIA. 

9.  The  Hindu  drama,  like  the  Ehzabethan,  bursts 
on  us  in  full  flush  of  perfection,  and  its  beginnings, 
the  unskilled  stammerings  of  the  voice  which  charms 
us  with  its  plenitude  of  harmony,  are  lost  to  us.  This 
is  only  natural,  in  an  age  and  land  where  there  was 
no  printing-press,  to  create  an  artificial  immortality 
and  embalm  for  the  bewilderment  of  future  genera- 
tions' the  still-born  efforts  of  an  infant  muse :  the 
wholesome  working  of  that  lately  discovered  law 
known  as  "survival  of  the  fittest,"  applies  to  the 
intellectual  as  well  as  to  the  physical  world. 
"Shakuntala"  belongs  to  the  golden  age  of  the 
drama,  that  of  a  king  of  the  name  of  ViKRAMADlTYA, 
who  reigned  in  the  fifth  century,  A.D.,  at  UjJAIN,  one 
of  the  most  ancient  and  sacred  cities  of  India,  in  the 
present  native  vassal  state  of  Malwa,  and  at  whose 
court  the  author,  Kalidasa,  who  has  been  surnamed 
"  the  Hindu  Shakespeare,"  and  who  distinguished 
himself  in  other  branches  of  poetry  besides  the 
drama,  appears  to  have  lived.  It  seems  not  a  little 
wonderful  that,  in  the  remote  and  unknown  East, 
a  contemporary  of  Hengist  and  Horsa  should  indite 
works  which  could  inspire  such  a  critic  as  Goethe 
with  lines  like  his  famous  epigram  on  Kahdasa's 
favorite  play : 

Wouldst  thou  the  young  year's  blossoms  and  the  fruits  of  its  decline, 
And  all  by  which  the  soul  is  charmed,  enraptured,  feasted,  fed, — 

Wouldst  thou  the  earth  and  heaven  itself  in  one  sole  name  combine  ? 
I  name  thee,  O  Shakuntala,  and  all  at  once  is  said. 

10.  Not  less  great  than  the  admiration  for  the  play 
as  a  work  of  art  was  the  astonishment  at  the  plot, 
when  it  was  perceived  that   it  is  founded  on  one 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  89 

of  the  most  universally  familiar  stories  of  European 
folk-lore :  that  of  the  lover  who,  stricken  by  a  wicked 
spell,  forgets  his  love — whether  sweetheart  or  bride 
— and  recovers  his  memory  of  her  only  on  seeing  the 
golden  ring  he  gave  her,  and  which  is  brought  back 
to  him  under  a  variety  of  romantic  circumstances — 
sometimes  by  the  maiden's  or  wife's  own  contrivance, 
as  when  she  arrives  to  find  him  on  the  point  of  wed- 
ding another  and  manages  to  have  the  ring  dropped 
into  the  goblet  of  wine  presented  him  at  the  feast — 
sometimes  by  sheer  accident.  The  latter  is  the  solu- 
tion adopted  by  Kalidasa,  and — doubly  wonderful — 
the  accident  is  the  same  which  makes  the  subject  of 
one  of  the  best  known  and  most  popular  stories 
bequeathed  us  by  Greek  antiquity.  The  ring  is  dis- 
covered in  the  stomach  of  an  exceptionally  fine  fish 
caught  in  a  stream  into  which  Shakuntala  had  acci- 
dentally dropped  it,  and  the  fisherman,  accused  of 
stealing  it,  is  brought  into  the  presence  of  the  king 
for  judgment ;  the  ring  is  produced,  and,  the  moment 
it  catches  the  monarch's  eye,  he  awakes  as  from 
a  trance  and  asks  for  his  wife.  Now,  who  does  not 
remember  the  same  ring-and-fish  incident  as  told  by 
Herodotus  in  his  story  of  Polykrates,  the  too  fortu- 
nate tyrant  of  Samos,  who  casts  into  the  sea  his 
most  costly  and  highly  prized  ring,  to  propitiate  the 
Deity  by  a  voluntary  sacrifice,  and  sees  it  reappear 
the  same  night  at  his  table,  cut  out  of  the  body  of  a 
huge  fish  presented  to  him  by  the  fisherman  as  too 
fine  for  any  but  the  royal  board  ?  There  is  no  love 
in  the  case,  and  the  Greek  uses  the  incident  to  point 
a  moral  of  his  own,  but  the  incident  itself  is  there,  in 
both,  identical. 


go 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


1 1.  Another  play  by  the  same  poet,  ViKRAMA  AND 
Urvasi,  or  The  Hero  and  the  Nymph,  develops 
a  mythical  incident  made  as  familiar  to  us  by  a  pop- 
ular story  from  a  similar  source.  A  celestial  nymph 
loves  and  marries  an  earthly  king,  warning  him,  how- 
ever, that  she  can  abide  with  him  only  so  long  as  he 
will  be  careful  she  shall  not  behold  him  disrobed. 
For  many  years  they  enjoy  unalloyed  happiness, 
when  her  former  companions,  the  nymphs  and  sprites, 
who  had  sorely  missed  her,  resolved  to  bring  her  back 
by  stratagem  and  contrived,  by  sending  an  oppor- 
tune flash  of  lightning  in  the  night,  that  the  condi- 
tion of  her  existence  on  earth  should  be  violated.  In 
that  flash  she  saw  her  lord  divested  of  his  robes, — 
and,  with  a  wail,  forthwith  vanished.  King  Vikrama 
mourned  for  her  and  sought  her  all  over  the  world, 
until,  after  long,  sorrowful  wanderings,  he  found  her 
and  they  were  miraculously  reunited.  Even  this  brief 
epitome  will  at  once  have  suggested  to  the  lover  of 
storydom  the  adventures  of  Eros  AND  PSYCHE  as 
told  by  that  bright  story-teller,  the  precursor  of 
Boccaccio  and  Chaucer,  Greek  APULEIUS,  in  spite  of 
a  few  circumstances  being  altered  or  even  inverted. 
In  the  Greek  legend  it  is  the  lover  who  is  divine  and 
the  woman  is  a  mortal,  forbidden  from  beholding  his 
face  or  form  not  only  disrobed,  but  in  any  way  what- 
ever. And  he  is  not  shown  to  her  by  any  external 
agency,  but  she  deliberately  seeks  him  with  a  lighted 
lamp  at  the  dead  of  night.  Yet  the  external  agency 
is  supplied  by  the  promptings  of  her  sisters,  who 
wish,  out  of  envy  or  affection,  to  get  her  back,  and 
urge  her  to  the  disobedience  which  is  her  undoing. 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  9 1 

As  natural,  it  is  she  who  wanders  and  seeks  for  the 
lost  one,  to  whom  she  is  reunited  in  the  end.  And 
this  story  too,  like  that  of  Shakuntala,  can  be  matched 
by  one  of  a  vastly  different  age  and  clime,  the  north- 
ern mediaeval  legend  of  LOHENGRIN,  THE  Knight 
OP'  THE  Swan.  He  too  is  a  more  than  human  being 
and  the  maiden  he  weds  is  warned  that  she  must  ask 
him  no  questions  as  to  his  past — nor  so  much  as  to 
inquire  who  he  is — for  though  he  must  satisfy  her, 
that  moment  he  leaves  her.  Like  Psyche,  she  listens 
to  evil  promptings,  breaks  the  command,  and  pays 
the  penalty.  In  all  these  stories,  vastly  differing  in 
details,  substance  and  spirit  are  the  same. 

12.  That  such  resemblances  could  not  come  under 
the  head  of  casual  coincidence  was  clear  to  the  most 
superficial  of  the  "general  reader"  class,  and  a  mo- 
mentary curiosity  was  pretty  universally  aroused  as 
to  what  might  be  their  cause  and  meaning.  But  the 
scholarly  world — philologists,  Orientalists,  mytholo- 
gists — was  far  more  deeply  stirred.  This  was  con- 
firmation of  much  knowledge  that  had  been  coming 
in  thick  and  fast  for  some  years, — ever  since  the 
English  residents  in  India  had  begun  to  study  San- 
skrit, and  made  and  promptly  published  the  startling 
discovery  of  that  ancient  tongue's  close  kinship 
with  all  the  languages,  old  and  modern,  of  Europe. 
Confirmation,  too,  that  completed  observations  al- 
ready made  in  the  parallel  field  of  mythology,  and 
embodied  by  Sir  William  Jones  in  a  celebrated 
paper  on  the  afifinity — if  not  identity — of  the  divini- 
ties of  the  Brahmanic  religion  with  the  gods  and 
goddesses  of  the  classic   world  ;  an   identity  which 


92 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


often  extended  to  minute  details,  as  in  the  case  of 
Kama,  the  child-god  of  Love,  bearer  of  a  bow  and 
arrows  of  flowers,  whose  very  name,  meaning  DE- 
SIRE, seems  merely  translated  into  the  Greek  Eros, 
and  the  Latin  CuPiD,  Owing  to  the  same  few 
scholars'  indefatigable  zeal,  which  was  soon  to 
arouse  in  Europe  the  emulation  of  such  men  as 
Friedrich  Wilhelm  von  Schlegel  and  WlL- 
HELM  VON  Humboldt,  the  field  was  widening 
almost  hourly,  and  the  great  Hindu  epics,  the 
Ramayana  and  the  Mahabharata,  were  becom- 
ing known, — in  fragments  at  first,  as  the  students 
went  on  on  the  simple  plan  of  translating  the  selec- 
tions given  them  to  read  by  their  native  teachers, 
mostly  Pundits  of  renown.  But  these  fragments 
were  like  those  scattered  erratic  granite  blocks  which 
show  what  the  primeval  mountains  of  the  earth  were 
made  of.  And  it  was  evident  that  these  epics 
were  treasuries  of  national  heroic  legends,  myths, 
and  stories  which  all  went  to  prove  the  same  thing, 
besides  being  an  absolutely  inexhaustible  mine  of 
information  not  only  on  the  customs  and  manners, 
but  also,  and  even  more,  on  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Hindu  people — the  ways  of  their  thinking  in  reli- 
gion, philosophy,  and  ethics. 

13.  Poetry  in  India,  like  the  country  itself  and 
everything  in  it — its  scenery,  its  vegetation,  all  its 
nature — is  on  an  enlarged  scale  with  regard  not  only 
to  copiousness  of  fancy  and  exuberance  of  imagery 
and  diction,  but  to  the  actual  size  of  its  productions, 
the  bulk  of  words.  The  dramas,  long  indeed,  do 
not  so  far  exceed  the  proportions  familiar  to  our 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  93 

training.  But  what  shall  we  say  of  the  two  epics, 
especially  the  Mahabh^rata  (more  than  twice  the 
length  of  the  Ramayana),  with  its  1 10,000  shlokas  or 
couplets  of  two  lines,  each  more  than  double  the 
length  of  an  ordinary  English  blank  verse  line ! 
Only  to  compute  such  a  mass  of  words  is  a  prob- 
lem in  arithmetic,  and  the  result  must  be  appalling 
to  a  student  of  even  more  than  average  working 
powers.  But  then  these  two  gigantic  repositories 
really  constitute  between  them  a  national  encyclo- 
pedia, not  only  of  heroic  and  mythic  legends  and 
poetical  creations,  but  in  at  least  equal  measure-  of 
the  nation's  philosophy,  its  religion,  its  political  and 
social  theories,  and  many  more  grave  and  profound 
matters  which,  in  other  countries,  endowed  with  a 
clearer  perception  of  proportions  and  the  fitness  of 
things,  are  not  admitted  into  the  scheme  of  what 
should  be  merely  works  of  art,  for  purposes  of 
entertainment  of  an  elevating  and  ennobling  nature. 
Of  these  Hindu  poems,  overflowing  with  wealth  of 
every  kind,  but  nondescript  of  form  and  absolutely 
promiscuous  of  contents,  we  can  say  that  they  take 
us  through  portals  of  tropical  flowers  and  labyrinthine 
groves  of  ambrosial  foliage  and  enticing  dalliance, 
into  a  sterner  world  on  a  higher  plane,  where  the 
pleasure-seeking  mood  changes  to  contemplative  and 
vague  questioning,  while  further  still  loom  the 
shades  of  the  ascetic  anchorite's  forest  home,  and 
beckon  the  snow-bound  peaks  of  disembodied 
thought,  in  whose  rarefied  atmosphere  nothing  can 
breathe  save  God-centred  meditation  and  absolute 
renunciation. 


94  VEDIC  INDIA. 

14.  The  way  is  long,  and  our  knowledge  of  each 
stage  indicated  in  the  Itihasas  (legendary  and 
semi-historical,  heroic  poems)  is  supplemented  by  a 
mass  of  literature,  the  profoundest  and  abstrusest  the 
world  has  known,  and  which  to  classify  alone  is  a 
serious  work  both  of  memory  and  discernment,  so 
that  mere  catalogues  of  manuscripts — their  titles 
and  a  brief  indication  of  their  subject-matter — are 
among  the  most  valuable  contributions  to  Orientalist 
libraries.  What  we  would  call  the  scientific  depart- 
ment is  very  respectably  represented  by  a  number 
of  works  on  arithmetic,  mathematics,  astronomy, 
and  grammar,  this  latter  having  been  carried  by  the 
Hindu  scholars  to  a  perfection  of  subtility  and  pre- 
cision never  equalled  by  those  of  any  other  nation, 
ancient  or  modern.  Then  come  jurisprudence  and 
social  science,  expounded  in  elaborate  works  which 
have  for  their  text  books,  ist,  the  DharmA-Sutras 
and  the  Diiarma-Siiastras,  a  number  of  codes  of 
various  antiquity  and  authority,  the  best  known  of 
which  is  the  Manava  Dharma-ShAstra,  or  "  Insti- 
tute of  Manu  "  (already  mentioned),  and,  2d,  the 
Grihya-Sutras,  collections  of  practical  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  life,  domestic  and  religious.  These  man- 
uals, which  are  meant  for  the  use  of  only  the 
priestly  class,  the  Brahmans,  are  far  older  than  the 
Shastras,  to  which  they  have  in  a  measure  served 
as  foundation.  Then  there  are  the  six  systems  of 
philosophy  and  metaphysics,  which  cover  pretty  well 
the  ground  explored  and  battled  over  by  most 
schools  of  the  West,  from  antiquity  down  to  our  own 
day :  deism,  pantheism,  idealism,  materialism,  skep- 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  95 

ticism,  and  even  cynicism.  Lastly,  the  PuRANAS, 
literally  "  Old  Stories,"  or,  rather,  "  Tales  of  Eld," 
which  might  be,  in  a  general  way,  likened  to  the 
Itihasas,  with  this  very  distinctive  difference,  that 
— while  these  and  the  smaller  and  sometimes  quite 
short  epic  poems  called  Kavyas  give  us  the  ex- 
ploits and  adventures  of  human  and  semi-divine 
but  still  mortal  heroes, — the  Puranas  treat  only  of 
gods  and  their  doings,  of  the  creation  and  other  kin- 
dred subjects,  sacred  if  not  wholly  religious.  In 
fact,  their  cycle  is  methodically  classed  under  the 
following  five  heads:  ist,  the  creation  of  the  world, 
or  Cosmogony  ;  2d,  its  successive  dissolutions  and 
renovations ;  3d,  the  genealogy,  i.  e.,  the  origin  and 
parentage  of  the  gods  and  patriarchs,  or  Theogony  ; 
4th,  the  reigns  of  the  great  patriarchs  and  ages  of 
the  world  ;  5th,  the  history  of  the  ancient,  heaven- 
born  dynasties  of  kings.  The  bulk  total  of  these 
collected  works,  which  contain  almost  the  whole  dis- 
tinctively theological  literature  of  the  later  develop- 
ment of  the  Brahmanic  religion,  or  HINDUISM,  is 
enormous.  There  are  eighteen  so-called  "great 
Puranas,"  making  together  400,000  shlokas,  the  long- 
est heading  the  list  with  81,000,  and  the  shortest 
closing  it  with  10,000.  Of  these,  some  are  already 
translated  into  various  European  languages,  wholly 
or  in  portions ;  and  the  contents  of  all  are  well 
known,  and,  on  the  whole,  thoroughly  studied. 
They  vary  in  importance  and  popularity,  but  greatly 
surpass  in  both  the  sixteen  so-called  "lesser"  or 
"  secondary  "  Puranas,  the  best  known  part  of  which 
is  their  titles,  as  they  are  not  common,  and  lacking 


96  VEDIC  INDIA. 

in  interest  or  attractiveness,  some  even  being  written 
in  prose. 

15.  Needless  to  enumerate  the  minor  classes  of 
works  which  make  up  the  balance  of  Sanskrit  litera- 
ture :  lyrical  and  other  poems,  stories  in  prose  and 
verse — those  of  real  interest  to  us  being  the  so- 
called  "  beast-stories,"  the  source  and  models  of  all 
the  fable-literature  of  the  Aryan  world, — works  on 
medicine,  various  crafts,  fine  arts,  etc.  They  are 
generally  of  very  late  and  many  of  actually  modern 
date,  except  the  beast-stories  which,  if  comparatively 
late  in  form,  are,  as  to  contents,  as  old  as  the  race 
itself,  for  most  of  the  animal  types  and  a  great  many 
of  their  adventures  belong  undoubtedly  to  its  pri- 
meval treasury,  which  accounts  for  their  universal 
adoption  by  all  its  branches.  It  is  the  vast  and 
massive  classes  of  literature,  briefly  outlined  in  the 
preceding  paragraphs,  from  which  we  derive  our 
most  important  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of 
India;  but  they,  too,  are  for  the  most  part  com- 
paratively late  productions,  embodying  stages  of 
culture  of  very  different  periods,  times  ranging 
through  more  than  twenty  centuries,  and  some 
quite  modern.  Now  twenty  centuries  do  not  take 
us  back  to  a  very  remote  antiquity — at  least  it  does 
not  seem  such  to  our  minds,  trained  by  the  last 
half-century  of  historical  research  to  grapple  with 
very  different  chronological  problems,  our  horizon 
having  been  widened  and  moved  further  and  further 
back  until  our  mental  vision  now  easily  reaches  the 
end  of  a  vista  of  seventy  centuries. 

16.  The    first  explorers  of  India's  past    already 


THE  SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  97 

felt  the  incompleteness  of  their  efforts  in  that  direc- 
tion. They  entered  on  their  studies  with  appetites 
whetted  by  the  few  significant  disclosures  vouchsafed 
them  by  chance,  and  with  a  keen  relish  for  further 
revelations  along  the  same  line,  which  was  to  take 
them  to  the  glorious  goal  already  dimly  visible  in 
the  far  distance  :  the  primeval  unity  of  all  the  so- 
called  Aryan  nations,  in  speech,  in  thought,  in  wor- 
ship. They  were  the  more  prepared  for  arduous 
labor  that  they  could  not,  as  they  very  well  knew, 
look  for  assistance  to  the  faithful  auxiliaries  of  the 
archaeologist  in  other  Oriental  fields :  the  pickaxe 
and  the  shovel.  The  field  of  Indian  research,  up  to 
a  very  late  period,  is  absolutely  bare  of  monuments 
— including  under  that  name  everything  tangible, 
from  a  temple  ruin  to  a  rock  inscription  and  to  a 
fragment  of  statuary  or  pottery.  All  the  monuments 
the  Sanskritist  can  turn  to  are  books,  or  more  cor- 
rectly manuscripts,  and  of  these  the  mass  kept  daily 
increasing  till  it  threatened  to  become  unmanageable. 
Yet,  even  while  almost  buried  under  the  abundance 
of  valuable  material,  they  felt  that  their  progress 
was  slow,  heavy,  unsatisfactory.  Still,  if  the  polar 
beacon-light,  on  which  they  kept  their  gaze  un- 
swervingly fixed,  did  not  come  nearer,  and  at  times 
almost  seemed  to  recede,  it  never  disappeared,  never 
went  out.  Soon  they  began  to  see  the  way  that  led 
to  it  straight,  at  first  vaguely,  then  more  and  more 
clearly,  at  the  same  time  that  they  felt  an  invisible 
barrier,  not  of  their  making,  rise  up  between  them 
and  their  soul's  desire.  This  barrier  was  a  purely 
moral  one — a   silent   opposition  on  the  part  of  the 


98  VEDIC  INDIA. 

English  students'  native  teachers,  Brahmans  all  of 
them,  of  high  social  standing  and  great  learning  ac- 
cording to  the  nation's  standard.  Up  to  a  certain 
point  their  English  pupils  found  in  them  willing  and 
sympathetic  guides  and  helpers.  But  just  assure  as 
they  came  to  a  passage  that  seemed  to  open  a  gate 
into  the  very  fields  where  they  longed  to  explore, 
their  eager  questioning  was  met  with  feigned  ignor- 
ance, assumed  indifference,  or  evasive  rejoinders, 
generally  of  the  purport  that  these  were  things  that 
could  not  interest  foreigners  or  repay  their  trouble, 
seeing  they  had  no  importance  save  for  natives. 

17.  So  much  the  Englishmen  quickly  made  out : 
that  all  the  subjects  which  they  soon  learned  were 
to  be  kept  closed  from  them,  either  by  passive  resist- 
ance or  devices  to  divert  their  attention,  were  the 
very  ones  it  most  imported  to  them  to  find  out  about, 
invariably  bearing  on  matters  of  ancient  religion  or 
law.  They  also  discovered  that  these  subjects  and 
all  the  literature  treating  of  them  were  considered 
sacred  and,  as  such,  to  be  jealously  guarded  from 
the  sacrilegious  prying  of  unholy  strangers;  further- 
more, that,  the  Brahmans  as  a  class  being  specially 
entrusted  with  the  guardianship  of  all  things  sacred 
and  national,  they  did  not  wish  their  pupils,  who 
were  also  their  masters,  to  learn  too  much  about 
matters  the  knowledge  of  which  might  enable  them 
to  strengthen  their  own  power  at  the  expense  of  the 
Brahmans'  own,  and  to  unravel,  on  occasion,  the  plot- 
ting and  scheming  of  the  latter,  as  well  as  expose  the 
fallac}^  of  many  of  their  claims  and  assertions.  THE 
Veda  was  the  name  of  the  forbidden  knowledge — 


THE    SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.  99 

literally,  for  the  word  means  "  knowledge."  It  was 
applied,  as  the  English  studerfts  found  out,  some- 
times to  the  sacred  books  of  the  ancient  religion  of 
India,  and  sometimes  to  the  body  of  literature  that 
had  gathered  around  them  in  the  course  of  time. 
Those  books,  four  in  number,  were  said  by  the 
Brahmans  to  be  a  direct  verbal  revelation  from  the 
Most  High,  and  were  soon  understood  by  the 
scholars  to  be  the  fountain-head  of  India's  religion 
and  law  both.  All  their  efforts  were  henceforth 
bent  in  this  direction,  but  they  could  accomplish 
very  little,  even  when  they  contrived  to  get  hold 
of  portions  of  the  precious  texts,  as  they  met  another 
and  not  less  disheartening  obstacle  in  the  fact  that 
the  language  proved  to  be  an  older  form  of  Sanskrit, 
which  it  was  as  impossible  for  them  to  master  unas- 
sisted as  it  would  be  for  us  to  understand  without- 
previous  study  the  Anglo-Saxon  writings  of  Bede  or 
Alfred  the  Great. 

18.  The  second  generation  of  Sanskrit  workers 
fared  better,  because  the  more  enlightened  Brahman 
Pundits  began  to  drop  some  of  their  reserve  and 
forget  their  apprehensions  before  their  English 
pupils'  earnestness  and  singlemindedness.  It  is  not 
improbable  that  their  patriotic  feelings,  too,  may 
have  been  flattered,  and  their  hopes  aroused  of  bet- 
ter government  at  the  hands  of  men  who  were 
striving  so  hard  for  knowledge  of  the  people  they 
were  called  on  to  rule.  How,  for  instance,  could 
such  a  man  as  Henry  Thomas  COLEBROOKE  fail  to 
command  their  respect  and  sympathy,  when  they 
saw  him,  a  youth    of    scarcely    twenty,    resist    the 


lOO  VEDIC  INDIA. 

temptations  which  beset  him  in  the  midst  of  the 
weahhy,  pleasure-loving,  and  dissipated  English 
official  society,  and  take  refuge  in  his  midnight 
studies  unaffected  by  the  allurements  of  the  gam- 
bling-table ? '  Be  it  as  it  may,  when  Colebrooke, 
fifteen  years  after  his  arrival  in  India,  after  complet- 
ing the  compilation  and  translation  of  the  Digest  of 
Hindu  Law  begun  by  Sir  William  Jones,  came  out 
in  the  same  year  (1797)  with  a  study  of  his  own — 
Essays  on  the  Religious  Ceremonies  of  the  Hindus, — 
the  work  "  showed  very  clearly  that  he  had  found 
excellent  instructors,  and  had  been  initiated  in  the 
most  sacred  literature  of  the  Brahmans,"  even  had 
he  not  explicitly  testified  in  his  writings  that  Brah- 
mans had  proved  by  no  means  averse  to  instruct 
strangers,  and  that  they  did  not  even  conceal  from 
him  the  most  sacred  texts  of  the  Veda." 

19.  Sir  William  Jones,  in  founding  the  Bengal 
Asiatic  Society,  became  the  initiator  of  systematic 
and  consecutive  research  in  the  newly  opened  quarry. 
His  friend  and  fellow-laborer,  Charles  Wilkins,  lived 
to  be  greeted  in  his  native  land,  at  the  close  of  an 
unusually  long  and  well-filled  life,  with  the  title  of 
"  Father  of  Sanskrit  Studies."  And  well  earned  was 
the  recognition,  since  he  often  had  sacrificed  the 
tastes  which  drew  him  to  purely  scholarly  pursuits 
in  his  chosen  field,  in  order  to  devote  himself  to  the 
drudgery  without  which  the  establishment  of  the 
Society    must   have    remained   barren    of    practical 

'  Colebrooke's  Letters. 

"^  Max  Mliller,  Chips  from  a  German    Workshop,  vol.  iv.,  p.  371 
(New  York  edition,  Scribner,  Armstrong,  &  Co.,  1876). 


THE   SOURCES  OF  OUR  KNOWLEDGE.         lOI 

results.  It  was  he  who  organized  the  first  Sanskrit 
printing  office,  with  absolutely  raw  material  in  the 
shape  of  native  printers  and  other  workmen,  who 
had  to  be,  each  individually,  shown  the  very  a-b-c  of 
their  craft.  And  not  only  that,  but  the  type  had  to  be 
designed  and  cast,  so  that  Wilkins,  in  his  own  single 
person,  was  by  turns,  or  all  at  one  time,  draughts- 
man, founder,  compositor,  type-setter,  printer,  and 
proof-reader.  Yet  these  two  men,  great  as  were  their 
merits,  are  regarded  now,  in  the  light  of  a  century  of 
marvellously  successful  work,  rather  as  the  precursors 
and  prophets  of  a  science  of  which  Colebrooke  is 
acknowledged  the  true  messiah.  For,  if  his  prede- 
cessors opened,  so  to  speak,  the  garden  of  Sanskrit 
belles-lettres,  he  it  was  who  began  that  determined 
digging  down  amidst  the  roots  and  through  the 
subsoil  and  stratified  layers  of  words  and  facts  which 
at  length  brought  down  the  searchers  to  the  very 
hard  pan  of  positive  knowledge.  Religion,  law, 
social  institutions  (especially  that  of  caste),  native 
sects,  grammar,  astronomy,  arithmetic,  and  sciences 
generally,  as  known  to  the  Hindus — in  each  of  these 
provinces  he  showed  the  way  and  started  the  work 
mapped  out  for  those  who  were  to  succeed  him  by 
some  standard  pieces  of  research,  which,  for  skill  and 
depth  of  treatment,  have  never  been  outdone,  even 
if  many  of  the  positions  he  took  up  on  the  high-water 
line  of  the  knowledge  of  his  time,  were  naturally 
swamped  by  the  advancing  tide  of  science. 

20.  No  province  of  Oriental  research  is  as  rich  as 
the  Sanskrit  field,  both  in  materials  and  in  illustrious 
workers.     Their  name  is  legion  ;  the  mass  of  their 


102  "     VEDIC  INDIA. 

scholarly  achievements,  as  piled  on  shelf  upon  shelf, 
in  rows  of  more  or  less  ponderous  volumes,  or  scat- 
tered in  loose  essays  and  studies  through  numberless 
special  periodicals  in  every  European  language,  is 
such  as  to  appal  not  only  those  that  aspire  to  follow 
in  their  footsteps  as  original  searchers,  but  even,  if 
not  still  more,  those  who  elect  the  more  modest  por- 
tion of  popularizing  their  works,  i.  c,  of  making  the 
world  at  large  interested  in  and  familiar  with  their 
aims,  their  methods,  and  the  results  attained  so  far, 
and  who,  in  order  to  do  this  successfully  and  reliably, 
must  master  the  greater  portion  of  what  has  been 
done,  keeping  well  up  to  date,  as  this  is  work  that 
never  pauses,  and  each  day  may  bring  forth  a  dis- 
covery or  a  point  of  view  more  important  than  the 
last.  To  give  the  names  of  even  the  most  illustrious 
of  this  admirable  host  were  a  hopeless  attempt,  be- 
sides that  mere  names  are  always  unprofitable.  Many 
will  turn  up  of  themselves  in  the  following  pages,  in 
connection  with  their  work,  and  the  bibliographical 
list  appended  to  this  volume,  as  to  the  preceding 
ones,  will,  it  is  hoped,  in  a  great  measure,  supply  the 
want  of  information  on  this  subject. 


% 


CHAPTER  IV. 


THE    VEDAS. 


1.  With  the  vague  and  sweeping  approximative- 
ness  with  which  we  are  wont  to  lump  our  knowledge 
or  imaginings  of  all  such  things  as  are  removed  very- 
far  away  from  us  in  space  or  time,  or  both,  we  rather 
incline  to  think  of  "  India  "  as  one  country,  one  na- 
tion. How  ludicrously  wide  of  the  mark  such  a  fancy 
is,  has  already  been  showji,  and  will  appear  repeat- 
edly as  we  advance.  Yet  it  is  in  so  far  excusable, 
that  to  the  European  mind,  India  is  identified  with 
one  race — the  Aryan  ;  that  her  history  is  to  us  that 
of  this  race's  vicissitudes  on  the  Himalayan  con- 
tinent, on  which  it  has  been  supreme  so  long,  mate- 
rially and  spiritually  ;  that  the  history  of  Indian 
thought  and  speech  is  pre-eminently  that  of  the 
Aryan  mind, — until  even  now,  when  races  have  be- 
come so  inextricably  mixed  that  there  are  no  longer 
any  Aryan  peoples,  but  only  Aryan  languages  and, 
perhaps,  traits  of  intellect  and  character,  we  turn  to 
India  as  one  of  the  fountain-heads  of  Aryan  life. 

2,  Not  the  fountain-head.     For  we  know  beyond 

103 


104  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  need  of  demonstration  that  Aryas  descended 
into  India  after  long  periods  both  of  stationary  life 
and  migrations,  in  the  course  of  which  they  traversed 
the  immensities  of  Central  Asia  ;  we  further  know 
almost  to  a  certainty  that  these  Aryas  were  a  dissev- 
ered branch  from  a  far  greater  and  more  numerous 
nation,  to  which  we  have  given  the  name  of  INDO- 
EraniaNS,  and  which  everything — especially  the 
evidence  of  language  and  religion — shows  to  have 
lived  undivided  down  to  a  comparatively  late  period, 
while  and  after  other  swarms  had  flown,  in  other  di- 
rections, away  from  that  primeval  Aryan  mother- 
hive,  which,  like  all  beginnings,  must  remain  forever 
wrapped  in  mystery,  though  we  can  partly  surmise 
what  its  language  must  have  been  like — the  root  of 
our  flexional  culture-tongues,  and  its  myths, — the 
primary  conceptions  of  nature  in  the  working  of  her 
divinized  forces.'  We  also  have  good  reason  to 
suspect  that  diversity  of  feeling  in  religious  matters, 
deepening  in  time  to  a  schism,  may  not  have  been 
foreign  to  the  separation.^ 

3.  When  Zarathushtra  embodied  this  revulsion  of 
feeling,  which  had  attuned  his  people's  minds  to 
loftier  teachings,  in  his  great  religious  reform,  and 
gave  forth  that  profession  of  faith  which  once  forever 
stamped  them  with  the  stern  earnestness,  the  some- 
what sadly  serious  spirituality  which  was  to  distin- 
guish them  from  all  ancient  nations,' — the  separation 


*  See  Story  of  Media,  Babylon,  and  Persia,  pp.  yj  ff, 
"  lb.,  pp.  98-100. 
2  lb.,  pp.  102-104. 


I06  VEDIC  INDIA. 

must  have  been  an  accomplished  fact,  perhaps  for 
some  time  already.  It  is  then  that  we  can  imagine 
the  first  Aryan  detachment — soon  to  be  followed  at 
intervals  by  others — emerging,  still  awe-struck  and 
bewildered,  with  a  sense  upon  them  as  of  a  wonder- 
ful escape,  from  the  sinuous  and  beetling  mountain 
passes  through  which  they  had  followed  at  a  venture 
the  bounding,  tumbling  Indus  where,  with  a  sharp 
southward  bend,  the  river  for  which  a  continent  is 
named,  digs  and  breaks  its  rocky  bed  out  of  gloom 
and  wildness,  into  a  region  of  sunlight  and  peaceful 
plains. 

4.  It  was  the  Penjab.  A  land  of  many  rivers 
and  broad  valleys,  of  mountains  grading  down  into 
hills,  wooded,  forest-clad,  of  moderate  clime  and 
ever-bearing  soil.  It  had  everything  to  invite  set- 
tlers— and  to  keep  them  a  long,  long  time,  even  to 
isolation.  For  a  glance  at  the  map  will  show  that 
this  garden  in  the  shape  of  a  corner  or  triangle,  while 
fenced  from  the  outer  world  on  two  sides  by  a  well- 
nigh  impassable  barrier,  is  on  the  third  side  separated 
from  its  own  continent  by  a  wide  belt  of  desert ;  and 
its  wonderful  system  of  rivers  is  entirely  its  own  ; 
their  course, — with  the  exception  of  the  giant,  Indus, 
— begins  and  ends  within  its  limits.  Five  bountiful 
streams  descend  from  various  points  of  extreme 
Western  Himalaya,  their  courses  converging,  uniting 
by  twos,  now  here,  now  there,  until  their  waters 
blend  into  one  short  but  wide,  deep,  and  rapid 
river  which  has  always  borne  the  collective  name 
Pantchanada,  "  The  Five  Rivers  " — a  name  which 
was  transferred,  unaltered,  to  the  land  itself,  and  of 


THE    VEDAS.  lO/ 

which  "  Penjab  "  is  the  Persian  form.'  The  Indus, 
the  while,  has  been  gathering  volume  and  swiftness 
all  by  itself,  without  any  contributions  from  affluents, 
of  which  it  receives  only  a  few  inconsiderable  ones 
in  the  upper  portion  of  its  course  before  it  emerges 
into  the  open  land.  It  advances,  solitary,  majestic, 
to  where  the  Pantchanada  brings  it  the  united  trib- 
ute of  "  The  Five,"  and  then  rolls  down  towards  the 
sea,  such  a  mighty,  often  storm-tossed,  mass  of  waters, 
that  the  early  poets  habitually  described  it  by  that 
very  name, — Saniudra — which  they  used  for  the 
accumulation  of  atmospheric  moisture  in  the  shape 
of  rain-clouds — the  celestial  ocean — and  which  was 
given  later  to  the  sea  itself  when  the  Aryas  from  the 
Penjab,  probably  by  navigation  down  the  Indus, 
reached  at  last  the  Indian  Ocean. 

5.  There  is  a  name  under  which  the  land  we 
know  as  Penjab  was  even  more  widely  designated 
both  in  the  early  or  Vedic,  and  the  later,  so-called 

'  The  five  rivers  can  show  up  between  them  about  five  times  as 
many  names,  which,  to  a  beginner,  is  confusing.  Their  modern 
names  are  different  from  those  of  the  Epic  Brahmanic  period,  while 
the  very  oldest  have  been  discovered  in  the  Vedic  literature  of  a  re- 
moter era  still.  Then  the  Greeks,  who  knew  this  portion  of  India 
tolerably  well,  had  their  own  names  for  them,  with  a  slight  assonance 
to  the  native  ones.  The  list  begins  with  the  westernmost,  modern 
Jhelum,  the  Epic  and  Vedic  Vitasta,  of  which  the  Greeks  made 
Hydaspes  ;  next  comes  Vedic  AsiKNi,  Greek  Akesinos,  now 
TcHENAB  ;  these  two  unite  and  for  a  considerable  distance  flow  on  in 
one  stream  of  double  volume  and  rapid  current,  as  indicated  by  the 
picturesque  Vedic  name  Marudvridha,  "  The  Wind-Swelled  "  ;  its 
later  Sanskrit  name,  Tchandrabhaga,  hellenized  into  Sanuro- 
phagus,  it  still  retains.  There  is  a  pretty  story  of  this  river  having 
set  a  term  to  Macedonian  Alexander's   Indian  campaign  ;  its  Greek 


Io8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Classic  periods:  it  is  Sapta-Sindhavah,  —  "the 
Seven  Rivers."  This  is  the  Hapta-Hendu  of  the 
Eranians, — the  land  mentioned  in  the  famous  geo- 
graphical chapter  of  the  Avesta  among  the  earliest 
creations  of  Ahura-Mazda,  and  in  the  rock-inscription 
on  the  tomb  of  Dareios  I.  in  the  list  of  the  Persian 
Empire's  tributary  provinces.  It  is,  indeed,  a  far 
more  correctly  descriptive  name,  as  it  takes  due 
count  of  the  Indus, — the  SiNDH  of  Indian  antiquity  ' 
— and  includes  a  seventh  river,  of  high  and  even 
sacred  legendary  fame,  the  Sarasvati,  which  may 
be  described  as  the  eastern  boundary  of  this  first 
Aryan  dominion  in  India,  since  it  skirts  the  edge  of 
the  Indian  desert  already  mentioned.  That  river 
has,  in  the  course  of  ages,  undergone  some  rather 
peculiar  changes.  It  springs  from  the  western  slopes 
of  the  slight  watershed  which  divides  the  river- 
system  of  the   Penjab  and  the  Indian  Ocean  from 

name  meaning  "  Devourer  of  Alexander,"  the  conqueror  is  said  to 
have  accepted  it  as  an  evil  omen  and  decided  on  returning.  The 
modern  RavI  or  Iroti  is  easily  recognized  in  the  Epic  IravatI,  but 
not  in  the  Vedic  ParushnI  or  the  Greek  Hydraotes,  while  both 
ShutudrI  and  the  later  Shatadr&  are  little  altered  in  the  Greek 
Zadadres,  and  leave  a  slightly  reminiscent  sound  in  the  modern 
SUTLEDJ  ;  just  as  in  the  name  of  the  Viyas  or  Bias  there  is  a  faint 
echo  of  the  Vedic  Vipasa,  transparently  hellenized  into  HypasIs, 
HypanIs,  or,  closer  still,  VipasIs.  Of  the  five,  the  Sutledj  is  by 
far  the  most  considerable,  in  length  and  volume,  and  the  most  fre- 
quently mentioned — almost  as  the  Indus'  twin  sister  river  ;  "  Indus 
and  Sutledj  "  go  together  just  as  "Ganges  and  Djumna,"  the  two 
leaders  of  the  other  twin  system,  that  of  the  Gulf  of  Bengal. 

'  "Sindh"  means  "  River."  This  is  another  instance  of  a  coun- 
try's principal  stream  being  styled  by  the  inhabitants  "The  River" 
par  excellence. 


THE    VEDAS.  IO9 

that  of  Eastern  Hindustan  and  the  Gulf  of  Bengal, 
and  used  to  accomplish  its  travels  in  the  customary 
manner,  and  end  them  in  the  Indus,  as  indicated  on 
the  map  by  the  punctured  line  which  designates  its 
original  course.  But  the  Sarasvati  does  not  seem 
to  have  had  the  vigor  of  its  sister-rivers.  Perhaps 
from  scantness  of  water  at  the  start,  or  from  the 
spongy  nature  of  the  soil  which,  being  dry  and 
sandy,  absorbed  too  much  of  its  volume — be  it  as  it 
may,  its  waters  gave  out,  and  at  some  time  it  stopped 
midway  and  got  lost  in  the  sands  of  the  desert. 
This  must  have  happened  already  at  a  very  early 
period,  for  quite  ancient  manuscripts  mentioned  the 
place  as  a  landmark,  observing  that  such  or  such  a 
locality  is  distant  so  or  so  many  days'  march  from 
where  the  Sarasvati  disappears  into  the  ground. 
What  is  left  of  it  is  now  known,  in  its  upper  course, 
as  the  Sarsuti,  and,  lower  down,  it  changes  its 
name  to  Gharghar.  At  the  present  time  it  has  no 
importance  save  that  which  it  derives  from  old  poetic 
and  legendary  associations  and  from  having  been 
one  of  the  original  "  Seven  Rivers"  that  graced  and 
nourished  the  first  Aryan  settlements  in  the  land — 
"the  Seven  Sisters,"  or  "the  Seven  Mothers,"  as  the 
ancient  bards  often  gratefully  and  prettily  addressed 
them  in  their  songs. 

6.  A  people's  life  and  pursuits  were  mapped  out 
for  it  in  such  a  country:  agriculture  and  cattle- 
breeding — the  cornfield  and  the  pasture,  the  barn 
and  the  dairy,  together  with  the  few  simple  auxiliary 
crafts  which  make  primitive  farming  self-sufificing — 
pottery,   carpentering,    hide-tanning,   spinning,  and 


112  VEDIC  INDIA. 

weaving, — these  were  the  departments  which  claimed 
nearly  the  whole  attention  of  the  Aryan  settlers,  the 
joint  and  divided  labor  of  their  men  and  women. 
It  would  have  been  strange  if  the  many  wide  and 
deep  rivers  had  not  encouraged  boat-building,  even 
ship-building  and  navigation  ;  so  that,  while  the  gen- 
eral formation  of  the  land,  divided  by  intersecting 
mountain  spurs  into  countless  valleys,  favored  the 
establishment  of  separate  and  independent  tribes, 
the  many  easy  ways  of  communication  fostered 
neighborly  intercourse,  and  laid  the  beginnings  of 
commerce.  These  almost  ideal  conditions  for  a 
nation's  development,  moreover,  though  full  of  the 
promise  of  great  prosperity,  did  not  in  the  least  dis- 
pose it  to  indolence  or  effeminacy.  For,  generous 
as  was  the  soil,  it  repaid  labor,  but  would  not,  like 
many  tropical  zones  and  isles,  support  the  human 
race  in  idleness ;  balmy  as  was  the  climate  part 
of  the  year,  it  was  not  enervating,  and  winter, 
snow-clad,  was  a  yearly  visitant.  Then  there  were 
wild  animals,  especially  wolves  and  bears,  to  be  kept 
at  bay.  Last  but  not  least,  ample  scope  was  afforded 
these  first  Aryas  of  India  for  the  development  of 
manly  and  even  warlike  qualities  by  their  position 
in  a  land  which  they  had  occupied  and  held  in 
defiance  of  a  brave  and  numerous  native  population 
who  kept  up  armed  resistance  probably  for  centuries, 
and  receded  or  submitted  only  step  by  step.  Not 
for  several  hundred  years  did  this  conquering  coloni- 
zation, pushing  slowly  eastward,  cross  the  watershed 
and  enter  the  valley  of  the  Ganges. 

7.     The  natives,  whom  the  Aryas  for  a  long  time 


THE    VEDAS.  II3 

gathered  under  the  general  Old-Aryan  designation  of 
Dasyu,'  belonged  to  a  black,  or  at  least  a  very  dark 
race,  and  everything  about  them,  from  their  color 
and  flat  noses,  to  their  barbarous  customs,  such  as 
eating  raw  or  barely  cooked  meat,  and  their  Shaman- 
istic  goblin-worship,''  was  intensely  repulsive  to  the 
handsome,  gentler  mannered  and,  to  a  certain  degree, 
religiously  refined  and  lofty-minded  Aryas,  who 
strenuously  kept  away  from  tKem  and  were  especially 
intent  on  avoiding  the  moral  contamination  of  asso- 
ciation with  them  precisely  in  matters  of  religion 
and  of  worship.  There  is  every  reason  to  believe 
that  this  spirit  of  fastidious  exclusiveness  was  the 
occasion  of  their  collecting  and  ordering  into  one 
body  the  hymns  and  sacred  songs  embodying  the 
religion  they  brought  with  them,  and  which  probably 
had  not  yet  at  that  early  period  assumed  the 
finished  poetic  form  under  which  it  has  at  last 
descended  to  us.  This  work  was  accomplished  by 
a  number  of  specially  gifted  men,  poets  and  priests 
both,  the  RiSHlS  of  India's  oldest  and  sacred  litera- 
ture, at  more  or  less  long  intervals  and  at  different 
periods,  ranging  over  certainly  the  whole  of  five 
hundred  years,  probably  much  more.  The  result  is 
the  collection  known  as  the  Rig-Veda, — "the  Veda 
of  praise  or  of  hymns," — or,  to  give  the  full  title  : 
the  Rig-Veda-Samiiita. 

^Meaning  simply  "peoples,"  "tribes";  a  meaning  which  the 
word,  under  the  Eranian  form  Dahyu,  retains  all  through  the  Avesta 
and  the  Akhjemenian  inscriptions,  while  in  India  it  soon  underwent 
peculiar  changes,  as  will  be  seen. 

^  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  p.  180,  and  the  chapter  "  Turanian 
Chaldea  "  generally. 


114  VEDIC  INDIA. 

8.  The  word  samJiitd  means  "  collection."  It  is 
here  used  to  denote  the  collection  of  original  Man- 
tras (hymns,  sacred  texts)/  1028  in  number,  which 
compose  the  Rig-Veda,  free  of  all  additions  in  the 
way  of  explanations,  commentaries,  and  the  like. 
This  is,  without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  tJie  oldest 
book  of  the  Aryan  family  of  nations, — in  contents  if 
not  in  actual  tangible  shape,  for  writing  did  not 
come  into  use  for  centuries  after  even  the  latest  of 
the  Rig-hymns  had  finally  assumed  the  poetical 
garb  in  which  they  have  come  down  to  us,  and 
which  cannot  have  been  later  than  1000  B.C.,  while 
it  was  probably  much  earlier.  And  when  close 
study  of  the  hymns  has  given  us  the  training 
necessary  to  discern,  from  intrinsic  evidence  of 
language  and  matter,  the  oldest  portions  even  of 
this  stupendous  collection, — most  probably  about 
1500  B.C.  and  rather  earlier  than  later, — we  are  forced 
to  the  admission  (for  which,  however,  we  are  not  un- 
prepared, having  already  had  glimpses,  beyond  the 
Indo-Eranian  period,  of  a  primeval  or  Proto-Aryan 
era)''  that  many,  both  of  the  words  and  the  con- 
ceptions that  confront  us  there,  already  mark  a 
secondary  stage  of  development  and  are  the  result 
of  historical  growth. 

9.  The  earliest  religious  life  of  the  Penjab  Arya 
and  its  outer  forms,  as  they  can  still  faintly  be  traced 
here  and  there  through  the  later  complications  of 

'  An  old  Indo-Eranian  word,  familiar  to  us  under  the  Eranian 
form  Manthra  from  the  Avesta.  (See  Sio7-y  of  Media,  etc.,  pp. 
30,  49,  86.) 

*  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  p.  37. 


THE    VEDAS.  II5 

the  Rig- Veda,  are  beautifully  simple — almost  entirely 
family  worship.  The  head  of  the  household  is  also 
its  spiritual  representative  and  leader  ;  he  lights  the 
flame  of  the  daily  sacrifice,  which  he  feeds  wdth  the 
simple  offering  of  melted  butter  and  cakes,  singing 
the  appropriate  hymns.  But  this  latter  feature 
already  contained  the  germ  of  a  much  more  artificial 
state  of  things.  What  ^vcre  appropriate  hymns? 
The  selection  implies  a  form,  a  ritual.  The  1028 
songs  are  divided  into  ten  separate  books  or  collec- 
tions (niandalas)  some  of  them  subdivided  into 
smaller  groups,  the  authorship  (more  probably  com- 
pilation) of  each  being  ascribed  to  some  particularly 
renowned  saintly  poet-priest — Rishi — of  olden  times. 
The  historical  authenticity  of  these  names  is  of  course 
more  than  doubtful,  as  they  became,  in  the  course 
of  time,  encrusted  with  such  a  growth  of  myth  and 
legend  as  to  leave  almost  no  loophole  for  anything 
like  sober,  reasonable  conjecture.  On  the  whole, 
it  may  be  assumed,  with  no  small  degree  of  prob- 
ability, that  behind  these  names  would  be  found 
not  only  individuals,  but  also  whole  families  in  suc- 
cessive generations,  in  which  both  priesthood  and 
poetic  gifts  were  hereditary.  It  is  these  families  who 
will  hav'e  made  the  selections  and  gradually  estab- 
lished the  more  and  more  systematized  forms  of 
worship  which,  by  the  time  the  Aryan  conquest 
and  colonization  had,  in  their  steady  eastward  pro- 
gress, reached  the  valleys  of  the  Upper  Ganga  and 
Yamuna,  had  expanded  into  the  most  elaborate  and 
intricate  ritual  and  sacrificial  ceremonial  the  world 
has  ever  known,  in  the  hands  of  an  exclusive  and 


1 16  VEDIC  INDIA. 

privileged  priesthood,  who,  under  their  final  name 
of  Brahmans,  had  in  the  interval  grown  into  that 
all-powerful  caste,  which,  for  nearly  thirty  centuries, 
has  held  India  prostrate — the  most  perfect  theocracy 
of  any  land  or  age,  possibly  rivalled  only  by  the 
Egyptian. 

lO.  Where  there  is  a  liturgy,  there  needs  must  be 
prayer-books.  Such  was  the  origin  and  such  the 
use  of  two  other  samJiitds  or  collections  included 
among  the  sacred  books  under  the  titles  of  Yajur- 
Veda  and  Sama-Veda.  Both  consist  of  hymns  and 
fragments  of  hymns  {inantras,  "  texts  ")  taken  out  of 
the  Rig,  and  arranged  in  a  certain  order  so  as  to 
accompany  each  action  and  incident  of  any  given 
religious  service,  and  especially  sacrifices — these  lat-' 
ter  in  particular  having  become  so  numerous  and 
varied  as  to  require  the  ministrations  of  a  great 
many  priests, — on  solemn  occasions  as  many  as  seven- 
teen,— of  unequal  rank  and  having  entirely  different, 
very  strictly  prescribed  and  limited  duties.  Some 
are  to  mutter  their  mantras,  some  to  recite  them 
rapidly  and  moderately  loud,  others  to  intone,  and 
others  again  to  sing  them.  The  mantras  of  the 
Saman,  which  can  be  traced  to  the  Rig  with  a  very 
few  exceptions — 78  out  of  1 549 — are  all  to  be  chanted. 
Those  of  the  Yajur  mostly  come  from  the  same 
source,  but  are  interspersed  with  passages  in  prose, 
containing  explanations  and  directions  for  the  guid- 
ance of  the  priests  who  make  use  of  this  liturgical 
manual.'     They  are  grouped  in  two  uneven  halves 

'  These  explanatory  interpolations  are  thought  to  be  the  oldest 
existing  specimens  of  Aryan  or  Indo-European  pros§-writing. 


THE    VEDAS.  WJ 

or  parts— the  "  Black  Yaju  "  (Taittiriya  Samhita) 
and  the  "White  Yaju  "  (VAjASANEYA  Samhita)— 
an  arrangement  insufficiently  accounted  for  by  a 
very  grotesque  legend. 

II.  For  a  long  time  these  three  Saniliitds — the 
Rig,  the  Yaju,  and  the  Saman — the  bulk  of  them  in 
reality  reducible  to  only  one,  the  Rig,' — formed  the 
entire  body  of  sacred  lore,  under  the  collective  title 
of  Traividya,  i.  e.,  "  the  threefold  Veda,"  or  "  the 
threefold  knowledge."  It  was  only  at  a  consider- 
ably later  period,  for  which  no  precise  date  can  be 
suggested,  that  a  fourth  one  was  incorporated  in 
the  sacred  canon — the  Atharva-Veda.  It  may 
therefore,  in  one  way,  be  called  a  comparatively 
modern  addition.  Yet  in  another  it  may  probably 
lay  claim,  at  least  in  part,  to  a  higher  antiquity  than 
even  the  Rig-hymns.  Nothing  could  well  be 
imagined  more  different  in  contents  and  more  oppo- 
site in  spirit  than  these  two  samJiitds.  That  of  the 
Atharvan  contains  a  comparatively  small  number  of 
mantras  from  the  Rig,  and  those  only  from  the  por- 
tions unanimously  recognized  as  the  latest,  while 
the  bulk  of  the  collection  along  with  some  original 
hymns  of  the  same  kind  and,  in  many  cases,  of  great 
poetic  beauty,  consists  chiefly  of  incantations,  spells, 
exorcisms.  We  have  here,  as  though  in  opposition 
to  the  bright,  cheerful  pantheon  of  beneficent  deities, 
so  trustingly  and  gratefully  addressed  by  the  Rishis 
of  the  Rig,  a  weird,  repulsive  world  of  darkly  scowl- 
ing  demons,   inspiring   abject    fear,   such   as    never 

*  The  Yajur-Veda  contains  some  original  matter,  which  has  been 
found  to  be  not  later  than  the  Rig. 


Il8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

sprang  from  Aryan  fancy.  We  find  ourselves  in  the 
midst  of  a  goblin-worship,  the  exact  counterpart  of 
that  wit^i  which  we  became  familiar  in  Turanian 
Chaldea.'  Every  evil  thing  in  nature,  from  a  drought 
to  a  fever  or  bad  qualities  of  the  human  heart,  is  per- 
sonified and  made  the  object  of  terror-stricken  pro- 
pitiation, or  of  attempts  at  circumvention  through 
witchcraft,  or  the  instrument  of  harm  to  others 
through  the  same  compelling  force.  Here  as  there, 
worship  takes  the  form  of  conjuring,  not  prayer; 
its  ministers  are  sorcerers,  not  priests.  The  conclu- 
sion almost  forces  itself  on  us,  that  this  collection 
represents  the  religion  of  the  native  races,  who, 
through  a  compromise  dictated  by  policy  after  a  long 
period  of  struggle,  ending  in  submission,  obtained 
for  it  partial  recognition  from  the  conquering  and 
every  way  superior  race.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  the 
latter,  while  condescending  to  incorporate  the  long 
abhorred  ritual  into  their  own  canonical  books,  prob- 
ably at  first  in  some  subordinate  capacity,  would,  so 
to  speak,  sanctify  or  purify  it,  by  supplementing  it 
with  some  new  hymns  of  their  own,  addressed  to  the 
same  deities  as  those  of  the  Rig  and  breathing  the 
same  spirit.''  If,  as  is  more  than  probable,  this  is  the 
history  of  the  fourth  Veda,  the  manner  of  its  creation 
justifies  the  seemingly  paradoxical  assertion  that  it  is 

*  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  chapter  iii.,  "Turanian  Chaldea," 
especially  pp.  153-170. 

*  We  have  seen  something  of  the  kind  in  the  fusion  of  the  old 
Shamanism  of  Turanian  Chaldea  with  the  nobler  religion  of  the 
Semitic  priestly  rulers,  actuated  most  probably  by  a  similar  policy 
of  conciliation. — See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp.  174-179,  and  especially 
pp.  235-237. 


THE    VEDAS.  II9 

at  once  the  most  modern  of  the  four,  and,  in  portions, 
more  ancient  than  even  the  oldest  parts  of  the  Rig- 
Veda.  As  a  samhitd,  it  is  a  manifestly  late  produc- 
tion, since  it  bears  evidence  of  having  been  in  use  in 
the  valleys  of  the  Ganga  and  the  Yamuna ;  but  the 
portions  which  embody  an  originally  non-Aryan 
religion  are  evidently  anterior  to  Aryan  occupation. 
12.  It  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  the 
mantras  of  the  Yajur  and  the  Saman  are  reproduced 
from  the  Rig-Veda  with  absolutely  literal  accuracy. 
Indeed  this  is  far  from  being  the  case,  and  although 
there  never  is  any  difficulty  in  identifying  the  texts, 
a  careful  collation  of  them  shows  many,  at  times 
quite  considerable,  discrepancies.  This  fact  is  very 
easily  accounted  for.  The  oldest  known  manuscripts 
of  the  Rig-Veda  do  not  date  back  much  earlier  than 
1500  A.D.  Yet,  two  thousand  years  before  that, 
about  600  B.C.,  the  study  of  it,  exclusively  pursued 
in  several  theological  schools,  by  the  simple  but 
arduous  process  of  memorizing,  was  so  accurate  and 
minute  that,  with  a  view  to  establish  the  text  and 
prevent  interpolations,  every  verse,  word,  and  syllable 
had  been  counted.  From  treatises  written  at  that 
period  we  learn  that  the  number  of  the  words  is 
153,826,  that  of  the  syllables  432,000,  while  that  of 
the  verses  is  differently  computed  and  varies  from 
10,402  to  10,622.  Now  it  is  quite  possible,  as  every- 
one may  find  out  by  trying  on  a  passage  of  either 
prose  or  verse,  to  alter  a  quotation,  without  materi- 
ally injuring  the  sense,  by  changing  some  of  the 
words  and  substituting  others  of  the  same  length,  so 
that  the  ear  will  detect  no  difference.     Indeed  this 


I20  VEDIC  INDIA. 

often  happens  when  quotations  are  made  from 
memory.  How  easily  would  such  corruptions  occur 
where  there  was  no  written  standard  of  the  canonical 
text  to  check  and  correct  them !  The  wonder — a 
great,  standing  wonder — is  that  the  text  was  pre- 
served so  unimpaired,  on  the  whole  and  in  detail. 
But  where  deviations  did  occur,  of  course  each  par- 
ticular school  would  not  admit  them,  but  stood  by 
its  own  text  as  being  the  only  pure  one,  and  thus  it 
came  to  pass  that  we  have  several  versions  of  the 
Rig-Veda  slightly  differing  in  details.  Furthermore, 
when  the  Rig  viantras  were  arranged  in  liturgical 
order  as  prayer-books  or  sacrificial  manuals  for  the 
priests,  the  compilers  might  slightly  adapt  them  to 
this  or  that  action  of  the  ritual,  and  all  these  causes 
more  than  account  for  the  divergences  in  the 
samhitds  of  the  Yajur-Veda  and  the  Sama-Veda. 

13.  To  be  studied  with  such  exceeding  care,  to 
have  its  every  syllable  numbered  and  treasured  as 
so  many  crumbs  of  gold,  a  book  must  needs  be,  not 
only  sacred,  but  old.  The  fear  of  losing  some  of  the 
spiritual  wealth  is  closely  followed  by  that  of  losing 
the  full  appreciation  of  it — of  ceasing  to  understand 
it.  Then  begins  the  period  of  commentaries.  Every- 
thing has  to  be  explained.  The  language  has  be- 
come antiquated.  The  poetic  metres — very  rich  and 
varied  in  the  Rig-Veda — are  out  of  use,  and  must 
be  studied  laboriously  as  we  study  those  of  our  dead 
languages.  Allusions  to  once  familiar  things  are  no 
longer  understood.  Myths  are  lost  track  of ;  their 
true  meaning  is  forgot.  Names  that  once  were  house- 
hold words  and  told  their  own  tale,  have  become 


THE    VEDAS.  121 

empty  sounds.  In  short,  times  have  changed  and 
the  thread  is  broken.  On  the  other  hand,  these  new 
times  must  be  anchored  on  to  the  old.  All  these 
new  things — new  notions,  new  customs,  new  laws, 
new  rites,  new  social  conditions — must  be  accounted 
for,  justified,  consecrated  by  the  old,  now  almost 
unintelligible,  for  these  are  the  sole,  universally 
acknowledged,  holy  fountain-head  of  the  entire  na- 
tional life — social  and  spiritual.  It  will  be  easily  seen 
what  a  feat  of  intellectual  gymnastics  such  a  task 
must  have  been,  nor  will  it  be  wondered  at  that  there 
was  enough  of  it  to  keep  several  generations  of 
priestly  specialists  occupied.  The  beginning  was 
made  with  the  prose  passages  intermixed  with  the 
mantras  of  the  Yajur-Veda,  and  which  converted 
that  compilation  into  a  manual  for  uses  that  had  not 
been  contemplated  by  the  old  Rishis,  but  had  gradu- 
ally grown  out  of  sundry  slender  roots  which  twined 
their  nearly  invisible  threads  below  the  bare  surface 
of  the  ancient  simple  worship. 

14.  Such  was  the  origin  and  purport  of  the  numer- 
ous theological  works  which,  under  the  name  of 
Brahmanas  (composed  by  Brahmans  and  for  the 
use  of  Brahmans),  formed  the  staple  literature  of  the 
Aryan  Hindus  through  several  centuries,  belonging 
■as  distinctively  to  the  second  stage  of  their  estab- 
lishment in  the  northern  half  of  the  Himalayan 
continent,  that  gravitating  around  the  Upper  Ganga 
and  Yamuna,  as  the  early  portions  of  the  Rig- Veda 
belonged  to  the  first  stage,  with  the  Sindh  for  the 
main  artery  of  their  material  life.  In  this  way  the 
Brahmanas  mark  the  transition  from  Vedic  culture 


122  VEDIC  INDIA. 

to  the  later  Brahmanic  social  order  and  modes  of 
thought — indeed  help  to  bring  on  that  transition, 
some  evidently  belonging  to  the  beginning,  others  to 
the  end  of  that  intercalary  period. 

15.  As  was  but  natural,  this  work  gave  rise  to 
numerous  theological  schools,  each  of  which  jealously 
guarded  and  handed  down  its  own  version  of  this  or 
that  Brahmana,  just  as  was  the  case  with  the  Vedas 
themselves.  This  of  course  materially  increases  the 
difficulties  that  beset  our  students,  especially  when 
one  remembers  that  each  of  the  four  Vedas  had 
several  Brahmanas  attached  to  it.  Many  are  lost, 
or  not  yet  found,  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  they 
would  add  much  valuable  knowledge  to  that  im- 
parted by  those  which  are  open  to  our  inspection, 
the  survivors  naturally  being  the  most  important 
and  popular  works.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting 
portion  of  each  Brahmana  is  the  appendix  with 
which  each  is  supplied,  under  the  title  of  Aranyaka 
-— "  belonging  to  the  forest  " — for  the  use  of  such 
Brahmans  as  had  retired  from  the  world  into  forest 
hermitages,  to  spend  there  a  few  quiet  years,  or  the 
latter  end  of  their  lives.  Four  Aranyakas  are  known 
to  us. 

16.  As  already  remarked  elsewhere,  all  religions 
that  have  sacred  books,  and,  in  consequence,  an  im- 
mutable canon  of  law  and  belief,  claim  for  them  a 
superhuman  origin.'  They  are  to  be  accepted,  obeyed, 
believed  in,  as  being  supernaturally  dictated  or  re- 
vealed to  their  human  authors  by  the  Deity.  The 
body  of  Scriptures   which  the  Hindus  gather  under 

*  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  17-19. 


THE  VEDAS.  1 23 

this  head  is  unusually  large,  as  it  comprises  not  only 
the  mantras  of  the  Vedas  but  the  whole  of  the  Brah- 
manas,  including  the  philosophical  Upanishads. 
They  call  it  Shruti,  "  what  was  heard,"  in  opposition 
to  Smriti  or  "  what  was  remembered," — only  remem- 
bered, and  therefore  liable  to  error,  to  be  respected 
as  invested  with  a  sort  of  secondary  sacredness,  but 
not  necessarily  and  implicitly  believed,  as  a  matter 
of  salvation.  All  the  law  books,  including  the  great 
code  of  Manu,  are  Smriti,  so  are  the  Itihasas  (see 
p.  94),  the  Puranas  (95),  and  another  important  class, 
of  which  anon.  It  would  seem  to  the  unbiassed 
mind  as  though  the  Rig-Veda  alone,  being  the 
corner-stone  and  fountain-head  of  India's  entire 
spiritual  life,  would  be  entitled  to  be  enshrined  in  it 
as  SJiriiti —  revealed,  repeated  from  "  what  was 
heard  "  by  the  Rishis  who  were  the  chosen  vessels 
and  instruments  of  the  divine  message  to  men. 
This  would  be  logical,  but  would  not  have  suited 
the  Brahmans  at  all.  This  most  ambitious  and 
crafty  of  all  priesthoods  made  such  exorbitant, 
nay  monstrous  demands  on  the  credulity,  docil- 
ity, and  liberality  of  the  people  over  which  they 
claimed — though  they  may  never  have  quite  estab- 
lished— absolute  power,  both  spiritual  and  temporal, 
that  not  even  such  a  contemplative,  indolent,  physi- 
cally enervated  race  as  the  once  vigorous  Aryas 
were  changed  into  by  a  long  sojourn  amid  the 
relaxing,  debilitating  influences  of  semi-tropfcal 
Eastern  Hindustan,  would  have  submitted  to  them 
tamely  and  unresistingly,  had  they  not  become 
imbued  with  the  conviction  that  they  were  obeying 


124  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  will  of  Heaven.  Now  all  these  things  that  the 
Brahmans  claimed  for  themselves  were  not  in  the 
Rig-Veda, — to  begin  with  the  claim  to  revelation 
itself,  which  the  old  poets  did  not  put  forth  for  their 
hymns,  of  which,  indeed,  they  emphatically  speak  as 
their  own  creation,  boasting  that  they  made  this  or 
that  new  song,  "  as  the  carpenter  fashions  a  wagon." 
It  had  all  to  be  spun  out  of  embryonic  hints  con- 
tained in  scattered  texts,  meanings  made  out,  twisted, 
and  made  to  fit  where  needed.  The  text  was 
nothing,  the  interpretation  was  everything.  This 
was  supplied  by  the  Brahmanas,  and  so  it  came  to 
pass  that  a  huge  body  of  literature — larger  than  we 
even  yet  can  realize,  since  many  Brahmanas  have 
been  lost  or  not  yet  found — by  a  host  of  authors,  of 
a  score  of  different  theological  schools,  and  ranging 
over  between  five  and  eight  hundred  years,  was 
enveloped  in  one  shroud  of  mystery  and  sacredness 
and  labelled  Shruti,  "  Revealed."  Of  course  such 
a  high-handed  proceeding  could  not  but  give  rise  to 
contradictions  and  glaring  inconsistencies.  Thus, 
the  Brahmanas  are  continually  referred  to  by  the 
names  of  their  authors  or  at  least  schools,  and 
spoken  of  as  "  old  "  or  "  new,"  which  is  downright 
heresy,  as  Shruti  can,  properly  speaking,  be  neither 
old  nor  new,  having  pre-existed,  unaltered,  through 
all  eternity.  But  theological  casuistry  will  thread 
its  way  out  of  worse  difficulties. 

17.  Smriti,  —  which  might  be  comprehensively 
paraphrased  by  "  venerable  tradition  " — embraces  a 
vast  range  of  subjects  and  of  time,  as  we  have  seen. 
But  there  is  one  set  of  literary  productions  of  this 


THE    VEDAS.  12$ 

extensive  class  which  specially  belongs  to  the  Vedas, 
and  supplements  the  Brahmanas  and  Upanishads. 
They  are  manuals  on  certain  principal  subject-mat- 
ters connected  with  and  partly  contained  in  them 
and  which  go  to  the  making  of  the  perfect  Vedic 
lore  required  of  every  Brahman.  These  subject- 
matters  are  six  in  number,  and,  by  their  nature, 
show  the  kind  and  minuteness  of  the  study  to  which 
the  Veda — especially  the  Rig-Veda  of  course — has 
been  subjected  from  very  early  times.  They  come 
under  the  following  heads  : 

1.  Phonetics  (pronunciation  and  accentuation), — 
SiKSHA. 

2.  Metre — Chhandas. 

3.  Grammar — Vyakarana. 

4.  Explanation  of  words  (etymology,  homonyms, 
and  the  like) — NiRUKTA. 

5.  Astronomy — JYOTISHA. 

6.  Ceremonial — Kalpa. 

An  exhaustive  knowledge  of  these  six  things 
is  considered  so  essential  to  a  full  understanding  of 
the  Veda  and  the  proper  idea  of  the  infinitely  com- 
plicated forms  of  worship  evolved  out  of  the  Rig, 
that  they  are  said  to  belong  to  it  organically  as 
members  to  a  body,  and  are  very  realistically  called 
VedangaS,  "  limbs  of  the  Veda,"  as  necessary  to  its 
articulate  perfection. 

18.  It  follows  from  this  that,  in  speaking  of  ''  the 
six  Vedangas  "  we  do  not  mean  six  distinct  books  or 
treatises,  as  is  sometimes  superficially  concluded,  but 
six  subject-matters  which  are  contained  in  the  Veda 
as  part  of  its  substance  and  which  are  to  be  abstracted 


126  VEDIC  INDIA. 

thereout  and  developed  for  purposes  of  study.  We 
continually  apply  a  similar  process  to  Homer,  or  to 
Shakespeare.  We  might  just  as  well  speak  of 
Homeric  accentuation,  Homeric  metre,  Homeric 
grammar,  Homeric  mythology,  Homeric  astronomy, 
Homeric  worship,  and  say  that  these  six  subjects  or 
studies  are  "  the  pillars  of  Homeric  scholarship." 
It  further  follows  that,  if  there  were  six  Vedangas, 
the  numbers  of  works  or  manuals  treating  of  them 
could  multiply  indefinitely — which  is  just  what  did 
happen.  One  feature,  however,  was  common  to  all 
these  works  ;  as  they  were  only  meant  to  specialize 
and  epitomize  knowledge  which  for  the  most  part 
was  already  scattered,  in  a  loose  and  desultory  form, 
through  the  Brahmanas,  they  were  compiled  in 
short  paragraphs  or  aphorisms  compact  and  con- 
cise— a  sort  of  telegraphic  memorandum  style, — 
in  which  brevity  often  degenerates  into  obscurity 
and  at  times  into  an  almost  unintelligible  jargon, 
that  provides  enough  hard  nuts  to  crack  for  a  few 
more  generations  of  special  students.  These  collec- 
tions are  called  SUTRAS,  literally  "  strung  together," 
or  rather  "  sewn  together,"  from  the  root  siv  or  syd, 
"  to  sew."  * 

19.  The  Hindu  scholars  must  have  found  this 
epitomic  hand-book  style  particularly  convenient 
and  helpful  to  the  memory,  for  they  applied  it  to 
many  other  than  specially  Vedic  subjects :  law,  phi- 
losophy, medicine,  crafts.  These  subjects  belonging 
to  the  "  remembered  "  or  "traditional  "  half  of  classi- 

'  Sometimes  the  Sutras  are  comprised  under  the  term  "  Ve- 
danga." 


THE    VEDAS.  12/ 

cal  literature,  Smrili,  the  Sutras  that  treat  of  them 
are  designated  as  Smarta-SOtraS,  to  distinguish 
them  from  those  that  treat  of  matters  connected 
with  "  revelation,"  or  "  what  was  heard,"  '  Shruti, 
and  which  go  by  the  general  name  of  Shrauta- 
SUTRAS.  Of  these,  as  of  Brahmanas,  there  are  several 
sets  annexed  to  each  Veda,  and  they  embrace  a  large 
variety  of  subjects,  minute  subdivisions  of  the  gen- 
eral matter  classed  under  the  headings  of  the  Vedan- 
gas,  till  we  actually  find  a  set  of  Sutras  on  the  art  of 
adapting  the  words  of  the  sacred  hymns  to  music. 
It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  India  is  the  only 
country  in  the  world  where  grammar,  prosody,  versi- 
fication, are  a  portion  of  the  nation's  sacred  litera- 
ture, and  indeed  partly  of  its  revealed  scriptures, 
since  the  bulk  of  the  material  worked  over  by  the 
Sutra-compilers  in  their  peculiar  style,  is  really  found 
in  the  Brahmanas  and,  in  one  case,  in  the  Veda 
itself — meaning  the  prose  portions  of  the  Yajur- 
Veda.  However  incongruous  and  almost  grotesque 
this  may  appear  at  the  first  glance,  if  unexplained, 
it  becomes  quite  logically  intelligible  when  the 
connection  is  made  plain  and  pursued  from  the 
start. 

20.  The  sacredness  attaching  to  these  branches  of 

'  It  is  quite  natural  that  revelation  should  be  conceived  of  as  com- 
ing through  the  sense  of  hearing  in  an  age  so  much  anterior  to 
writing,  and  even  later,  when,  preferably  and  on  principle,  the  entire 
sacred  literature  was  committed  by  students  to  memory,  being  re- 
ceived orally  from  the  teacher's  lips.  Yet,  curiously  enough,  parts  of 
Shruti  are  usually  spoken  of  as  seejt.  Thus  a  certain  Rishi  is  said  to 
have  seen  certain  hymns  of  the  Rig- Veda  which  have  come  down 
under  his  name. 


128  VEDIC  INDIA. 

study,  usually  considered  as  emphatically  a  part  of  the 
layman's  education,  accounts  for  the  extraordinary 
pains  and  care  early  bestowed  on  them,  and  which 
culminated  in  the  most  elaborate,  profound,  subtle, 
and  finished  investigations  of  language  ever  achieved 
by  any  people.  It  will  be  noticed  that  such  questions 
make  up  four  out  of  the  six  Vedangas  :  Phonetics, 
Metre  (or  versification  and  prosody),  Etymology 
(comprising  homonyms  and  synonyms),  and  Gram- 
mar proper.  In  the  intricate  system  of  sacrificial 
rites,  based  on  forms  pure  and  simple,  into  which  the 
once  beautiful  Vedic  worship  quickly  and  surely  de- 
generated, one  misplaced  accent,  one  mis-pronounced 
word,  one  falsely  given  quantity,  was  supposed  not 
only  to  destroy  the  beneficial  virtue  of  a  sacrifice,  but 
actually  to  turn  it  against  the  sacrificer.  Yet  how  easy 
to  commit  such  a  slip  when  using  only  half  intelligible 
words  and  forms  in  a  language  which,  from  being  at 
all  times  a  more  or  less  artificial,  literary  idiom,  was 
fast  coming  to  be  a  dead  one  !  What  wonder  then 
if  nice  points  of  grammar  and  prosody  became  of 
vital  importance,  and  exercised  for  centuries  the 
choicest  faculties,  the  unremitting  efforts  of  the 
national  intellect ;  if  each  theological  school  fiercely 
vindicated  and  clung  to  its  own  version  of  a  pas- 
sage— nay,  its  own  pronunciation,  its  own  accentua- 
tion of  this  or  that  word,  producing  a  long  and 
varied  series  of  scientifically  elaborated  treatises 
(Sutras),  the  larger  number  of  which,  judging  from 
quotations  in  those  that  were  preserved,  have  evi- 
dently been  lost,  only  the  best  having  survived  the 
natural  selection  of  unwritten  literature,  the  produc- 


THE   VEDAS.  tig 

tions  of  which  must  stand  or  fall  exclusively  on  their 
own  merits. 

21.  We  have  now  arrived  at  the  end  of  a  survey, 
not  incomplete,  if  necessarily  brief,  of  what  can,  in 
the  stricter  sense,  be  called  Vedic  Literature.  In 
a  wider  sense,  all  the  literature  of  India  may,  theo- 
retically, be  said  to  come  under  that  head,  since 
the  Veda — the  Rig-Veda  in  the  last  instance — per- 
vades and  dominates  her  spiritual  life,  even  as  her 
own  Himalaya  sways  and  regulates  the  conditions  of 
her  material  existence.  But  the  special  and  distinc- 
tive Vedic  literature  is  that  which  follows  directly 
from  the  Veda  and  revolves  around  it,  treating  only 
of  such  matters  as  it  either  contains  or  suggests.  It 
naturally  falls  into  three  very  obvious  main  divisions  : 
I,  the  Mantra  period — the  period  of  collecting  the 
songs  with  no  special  object  beyond  that  of  preserv- 
ing them  ;  2,  the  Brahmana  period — the  period  of 
commentary  and  a  certain  amount  of  exegesis,  with 
the  patent  object  of  establishing  the  supremacy  of 
the  Brahman  caste ;  3,  the  Sutra  period — the  period 
of  concise  special  treatises  for  practical  use  at  school 
and  sacrifice.  Chronologically,  these  periods  do  not 
strictly  succeed  one  another,  any  more  than  the  so- 
called  culture  ages — of  stone,  of  brass,  of  iron — but 
overlap  both  ways  over  and  over.  Thus,  if  the 
second  period  corresponds  to  a  well-defined  stage  of 
the  Aryas'  conquest  of  India — that  of  their  advance 
eastward  and  their  establishment  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Ganga  and  Yamuna — the  third  may  be  said  to 
straggle  down  actually  into  modern  times,  since 
the   monumental    commentary    on    the    Rig-Veda, 


I30 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


the  Br^hmans'  standard  authority,  was  written  by 
SAyana  as  late  as  the  fourteenth  century  of  our 
era/ 

*  Panini's  no  less  monumental  grammar,  though  a  much  earlier 
work  (4th  cent.  B.C.),  and  by  its  subject  belonging  to  the  Vedangas, 
can  hardly  be  classed  under  strictly  Vedic  literature,  for  the  language 
which  he  found  and  dissected  with  an  acumen  and  thoroughness  un- 
rivalled even  by  Greek  grammarians,  is  not  that  of  the  Veda  at  all, 
and  Vedic  forms  of  speech  are  studied  by  him  as  curious  philological 
relics. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  RIG-VEDA  :  THE  OLDER  GODS. 

I.  When  we  prepare  to  investigate  one  of  the 
world's  great  religions,  and  before  we  enter  on  an 
analytical  study  of  details,  we  naturally  incline,  in 
our  desire  to  feel  firm  ground  under  our  feet,  to  ask 
the  preliminary  question  :  What  is  its  character?  in 
what  category  should  it  be  classed  ?  to  what  division 
of  the  spiritual  world  does  it  belong?  Polytheism? 
Pantheism?  Animism?  or  what  other?  When  it  is 
the  Rig-Veda  into  which  we  are  about  to  plunge,  we 
doubly  feel  the  need  of  some  such  guiding  thread, 
some  anchor  to  rest  upon,  for  its  1028  hymns,  bris- 
tling with  names  and  allusions,  produce,  on  a  first 
perusal,  a  labyrinthine,  chaotic,  wholly  bewildering 
impression.  But  alas,  a  direct,  plain  answer  to  such 
a  question  is  seldom,  if  ever,  possible,  and,  in  the 
case  of  the  Rig-Veda,  perhaps  a  little  less  so  than  in 
that  of  any  other  analogous  spiritual  document.  The 
growth  of  a  long  series  of  centuries,  elaborated  in 
many  million  busy,  subtle  brains,  containing  a  great 
race's  spiritual  food  for  as  many  centuries  to  come 
and  materials  for  endless  transformations,  could  not 

131 


132  VEDIC  INDIA, 

possibly  be  so  simple  and  transparent  a  thing  as  to 
admit  of  a  sweeping  definition  in  one  word.  The 
study  of  the  Zend-Avesta  showed  us  how  many  va- 
ried elements,  and  how  int^ncately  stratified,  go  to 
the  making  of  a  great  national  religion.  The  same 
unconscious  work  of  time  and  influences  confronts 
us  in  the  Veda,  but  by  so  much  more  many-sided 
and  complicated  by  how  much  the  contemplative, 
introspective  character  which  the  Aryas  developed 
in  India  is  more  involved  and  self-absorbed  than  that 
of  their  sternly  simple,  active,  and  hardy  Eranian 
brethren. 

2.  Let  us,  however,  attempt  to  answer  the  ques- 
tion with  which  we  began  the  present  chapter,  just 
to  see  how  far  and  deep  it  will  carry  us.  Even  a 
cursory  first  study  of  our  text  will  establish  the  fol- 
lowing points :  A  great  many  gods  are  named  and 
invoked  in  the  Rig- Veda  ;  consequently,  the  religion 
it  embodies  is  decidedly  POLYTHEISTIC ;  the  spirits 
of  deceased  ancestors  come  in  for  a  large  share  of 
honor  and  worship,  so  that  ANIMISM  may  be  said 
to  be  a  conspicuous  feature  of  it ;  an  early  tendency 
to  view  the  deity  as  pervading  the  universe,  both  as 
a  whole  and  in  its  minutest  parts,  animate  or  inani- 
mate— a  view  exhaustively  expressed  in  such  words 
as  these :  "  He  whose  loins  the  seas  are "  is  also 
"contained  in  this  drop  of  water" — early  reveals  a 
strong  attraction  towards  PANTHEISM  ;  while  many 
are  the  passages  which  explicitly  inform  us  that  the 
various  gods  are  only  different  names  of  "  that  which 
is  One  " — more  than  hinting  at  a  dim,  underlying 
MONOTHEISM.     There  is  no  doubt  that  the  purer  and 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 33 

more  abstract  conceptions  could  be  traced  to  the 
later  of  the  many  centuries  which  it  took  to  evolve 
the  Rig-Veda  in  its  final  form,  if  we  but  had  a  sure 
key  to  its  chronology  ;  as  it  is,  we  have  only,  as  in 
the  Avesta,  the  internal  evidence  that  goes  so  far  in 
the  hands  of  trained  criticism,  to  support  and  guide 
our  impressions,  our  conjectures.  But  one  thing  ap- 
pears sure :  Vedic  religion  at  no  time,  until  opened  to 
alien  and  grosser  influences,  was  idolatrous.  In  this 
respect  the  Aryas  of  India  were  in  no  wise  behind 
their  brethren  of  Eran  :  nature  was  their  temple ; 
they  did  not  invite  the  deity  to  dwell  in  houses  of 
men's  building,  and  if,  in  their  poetical  effusions, 
they  described  their  Devas  in  human  form  and  with 
fanciful  symbolical  attributions,  thereby  unavoidably 
falling  into  anthropomorphism,  they  do  not  seem  to 
have  transferred  it  into  reproductions  more  materi- 
ally tangible  than  the  spoken  word — into  the  eidolon 
(portraiture, — of  limner's,  sculptor's,  or  potter's  hand) 
— which  becomes  the  idol. 

3.  And  if  the  Rig- Veda  may  be  shown  to  contain 
the  germs  of  most  of  the  religions  and  even  philo- 
sophical systems  which  subsequently  covered  the 
spiritual  soil  of  India  with  crops  of  such  bewildering 
iuxuriancy,  the  main  character  of  this  book  of  books, 
in  nearly  half  its  mantras, — answering,  no  doubt,  to 
the  earlier  and  main  period  of  their  composition  and 
collection, — is  simple  and  easy  to  define  ;  at  this 
earliest  and  unalloyed  stage,  the  religion  which  we 
see  faithfully  mirrored  in  them  is  NATURALISM,  pure 
and  simple,  i.  e.,  the  worship  of  the  Powers  of  Nature  / 
as  Beings,    generally    beneficent,  with  only  a  very 


134  VEDIC  INDIA. 

few  absolutely  Evil  Ones,  such  as  Darkness  and 
Drought ;  these  latter,  however,  are  not  worshipped, 
nor  even  propitiated,  but  unconditionally  abhorred 
by  men,  fought  and  conquered  by  the  Powers  of 
Good,  In  this  unalloyed  naturalism,  we  can  watch 
the  birth  of  myths  and  catch  it,  so  to  speak,  in  the 
act,  by  the  simple  proceeding  of  translating  the 
names  of  each  divine  or  semi-divine  being  as  it  con- 
fronts us  in  an  invocation  or  in  a  bit  of  story  (for 
long  and  especially  connected  and  consistent  stories 
are  the  works  of  a  later,  elaborating,  and  compiling 
age).  We  then  perceive,  to  our  astonishment,  that 
they  are  not  names  at  all,  but  either  matter-of-fact 
common  nouns,  direct  designations  of  the  natural 
object  under  consideration,  or  else  a  verbal  noun  ex- 
pressing some  characteristic  action  of  that  object — 
as  "the  Pounders,"  "the  Howlers,"  names  of  the 
Storm- Winds — or  an  adjective,  a  more  or  less  ornate 
epithet,  describing  one  or  other  of  its  characteristic 
properties  or  aspects.  So  that,  by  merely  dismiss- 
ing the  capital  initials,  we  reduce  an  incipient  story 
— a  primary  myth  containing  all  the  live  germs  of 
future  poetic  and  legendary  development — into  a 
fanciful,  poetical  description  of  a  natural  phenome- 
non— like  the  various  stages  of  the  sun's  progress, 
the  incidents  of  a  thunderstorm,  the  dramatic  epi- 
sodes of  a  drought.  Special  illustrations  of  these 
positions  are  scarcely  needed  here,  since  all  the  fol- 
lowing pages  will,  in  a  measure,  consist  of  such 
illustrations.  But,  before  we  investigate  the  Vedic 
natural  pantheon,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  repeat  the 
definition  of  the  word  MYTH  given   in  another  vol- 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 35 

ume, '  because  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  through 
all  the  study  on  which  we  are  entering,  and  will  be 
found  to  cover  each  single  case  subjected  to  it.  This 
it  is  :  "y4  myth  means  simply  a  phenomenon  of  nature 
presented  not  as  the  result  of  a  laiu,  but  as  the  act  of 
divine  or  at  least  superhuman  persons,  good  or  evil 
pozvers.  Reading  and  practice  will  show  that  there 
are  many  kinds  of  myths,  but  there  is  none  which, 
if  properly  taken  to  pieces,  thoroughly  traced  and 
cornered,  will  not  be  covered  by  this  definition." 
The  beauty  of  the  Vedic  myths  is  that  they  need  no 
cornering,  no  taking  to  pieces,  mostly  being  them- 
selves embryonic,  and  resolving  themselves,  at  a 
touch,  back  into  the  natural  elements  out  of  which 
they  directly  emanated,  without  as  yet  materializing 
into  any  such  flesh-and-blood  reality  as,  say,  the 
biography  of  a  Greek  god. 

4.  We  shall  never  know  exactly  what  the  inheri- 
tance was  which  the  Aryas  of  the  Sapta-Sindhavah 
received  from  the  time — the  so-called  Indo-Eranian  . 
period — before  the  separation  of  the  two  sister  races, 
the  original  material  out  of  which  grew  the  Rig-Veda. 
But  there  are  some  large  primary  conceptions  in  it 
which  clearly  confront  us  in  the  Zend-Avesta  also, 
and  which  we  are  therefore  justified  in  ascribing 
to  the  original,  primeval  Aryas,  the  ancestors  of 
both.  We  may  be  tolerably  well  assured  that  so 
much  of  these  primary  conceptions  as  we  can  trace 
in  the  Rig-Veda  unalloyed  with  elements  betokening 
local  Indian  conditions  and  influences,  represents  the 

'  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  p.  294,  and  Ch.  VII.  (on  Myths)  generally, 
which  should  be  carefully  re-read. 


K 


136  VEDIC  INDIA. 

earlier  stage  of  the  religion  which  was  to  become  so 
complicated  and  manifold.  It  is  not  impossible  to 
disentangle  these  simpler  outlines  from  an  intricate 
aftergrowth,  and  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  them 
representing  the  purest  naturalism,  with  just  so 
much  moral  consciousness  and  religious  feeling  as 
cannot  be  absent  from  the  spiritual  life  of  a  highly- 
gifted  race.' 

5.  The  poets,  the  thinkers,  and  contemplatives  of 
all  nations  have  been  attracted  to  what  lay  beyond 
the  experience  and  testimony  of  their  material  senses, 
and  have  conceived  the  universe  as  divided  into  sev- 
eral "  worlds,"  visible  and  invisible.  Obviously  the 
oldest  of  such  speculations,  the  starting-point  for  all 
subsequent  ones,  is  the  conception  of  "  the  two 
worlds " — Heaven  and  Earth.  Many  names  are 
given  to  each  in  the  Rig-Veda,  but  in  their  spe- 
cial connection  as  a  divine  couple,  who  between  them 
and  by  their  union  have  given  life  to  all  creatures 
and  are  ever  supplying  them  with  the  means  of  pre- 
serving that  life,  they  are  addressed,  jointly  and  in- 
separably, as  Dyaus  and  Prithivi.  The  latter 
name  is  singularly  direct  and  unimaginative ;  it 
means  simply  "  the  Broad,"  and  if  it  offers  any 
interest,  it  is  from  the  suggestion  of  antiquity  it 
contains,  since  that  is  scarcely  the  epithet  which 
would  be  chosen,  out  of  many,  as  specially  distinc- 
tive, in  a  land  of  towering  peaks  and  steep-sided 
ridges,  and  therefore  it  does  not  seem  too  unlikely 

'  The  chapter  on  "  Aryan  Myths"  (Ch.  III.)  in  the  Story  of  Media, 
Babylon,  and  Persia  should  by  rights  be  re-perused  here,  and  would 
undoubtedly  prove  of  great  assistance. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 3/ 

that  the  name,  as  the  conception,  may  have  been 
familiar  prior  to  the  Aryan  descent  into  the  Penjab, 
carrying  the  mind  back  to  the  period  (Indo-Era- 
nian  ?)  of  dwelling  on  flat,  boundless  plains  and 
steppes. 

6.  Of  far  more  positive  interest  and  wide-reaching 
significance  is  the  name  of  the  other  divine  consort, 
Heaven — Dyaus.  The  word  means  "  the  Sky."  But 
this  meaning  has  back  of  it  another,  the  true  original 
meaning,  which  shows  the  word  to  be  only  a  descrip- 
tive designation.  It  comes  from  the  root  DIV,  "  to 
shine,  to  be  brilliant  " — and  how  could  a  tropical  or 
semi-tropical  sky  strike  the  poetic  and  artistic  eye 
more  characteristically  than  as  "  the  Shining,"  "  the 
Brilliant  "  ?  Say  "  the  Shining  One  " — and  the  thing 
is  done  ;  the  magic  wand  has  touched  the  inanimate 
object,  and  it  has  become  a  being,  ?i  person,  z. power 
— in  classical  language,  a  god.  And  what  a  god  ! 
The  original  universal  god  of  almost  all  Aryan 
peoples  and  such  as,  in  later  times,  adopted  the 
Aryan  speech  and,  with  it,  the  Aryan  traditions  and 
turn  of  mind.  For  Vedic  Dyaus — and  still  more  in 
the  immemorial  association  of  ideas  and  words, 
Dyaushpitar,  "  Heaven,  the  Father,"  is  no  other 
than  Greek  Zeus,  Zeus-PATER,  Latin  DiES-PlTER, 
Jupiter,  then  DEUS,  "  a  god,"  and  Christian  Deus, 
God,  and  lastly  our  modern  Dio,  Dios,  DiEU,  with 
all  the  kindred  derivatives  from  the  original  San- 
skrit— and  probably  Aryan — root :  "  divus,"  "  divine," 
and  others.  The  name  of  Dyaus  is,  more  frequently 
than  that  of  any  other  deity,  coupled  with  the  epi- 
thet ASURA,  and  that  alone  vouches  for  the  immeas- 


138  VEDIC  INDIA. 

urable  antiquity  of  this,  probably  the  most  primeval 
of  Aryan  cults,  since  the  word  Asura,  which  was 
originally  a  designation  common  to  all  beneficent 
Beings,  shifted  its  meaning  to  the  exact  opposite, 
and  came  to  signify  evil  Beings, — demons  or  fiends, 
whose  opposition  and  frequently  open  warfare  against 
the  Powers  of  light  and  all  good  is  a  standing  feature 
of  later  Hindu  mythology.  When  the  transforma- 
tion took  place  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  determined  ; 
but  it  may  be  proved  to  have  done  so  within  the  span 
of  time  covered  by  the  Rig- Veda,  for  the  word  occurs 
in  the  great  collection  in  both  senses, — the  favorable 
one  in  such  passages  as  are  otherwise  shown  to  be- 
long to  the  earlier  portion.  As  Asura  begins  to 
mean  an  Evil  Power,  another  word  has  to  be  found 
to  designate  the  Good  Powers  generally,  and  that 
word  is  Deva,  coined  out  of  the  same  root  which 
gave  the  name  of  the  oldest  Aryan  god.  So  the 
Aryas  of  India  first  spoke  of  their  "  Bright  Ones  " 
in  a  general  way,  then  the  notion  and  word  both 
hardened  and  crystallized  into  the  special  meaning 
which  we  attach  to  the  word  "  gods."  The  Eranian 
sister  race,  in  the  meantime,  retained  Asura  (Eranian 
"  Ahura ")  in  its  original  meaning,  which  Zara- 
thushtra  and  his  followers  intensified  and  sanctified 
by  making  it  an  integral  part  of  the  name  of  the 
Most  Holy  himself,  the  supreme  and  only  Lord, 
Ahura-Mazda,  while  the  word  "  deva,"  doubtless  to 
show  their  abhorrence  of  their  former  brethren's 
polytheistic  tendencies,  was  degraded  into  the  desig- 
nation of  the  fiends — the  "  Daevas  "  of  the  Avesta, 
the  "  Divs  "  of  later  Persian  spirit  lore — the  servants 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 39 

of  the  Evil  One,  Angra-Mainyush.  The  coincidences 
and  divergences  are  too  pointed  and  systematic  to 
be  casual,  and  give  almost  decisive  weight  to  the 
hypothesis  that  religious  antagonism  was  not  foreign 
to  the — probably  late — separation  of  the  Indo-Era- 
nian  family,  which  seems  to  have  remained  united 
longest  of  all  the  branches  of  the  original  Aryan 
stock. 

7.  Every  natural  object  fills  more  than  one  part  or 
function  in  the  economy  of  the  universe,  has  more 
than  one  quality  or  aspect  wherewith  to  strike  an 
observer — a  variety  easily  expressed  in  speech  by  a 
number  of  adjectives  and  verbs  or  verbal  nouns.  If 
that  observer  be  poetically  inclined  and  therefore 
subject  to  moods,  he  will  scarcely  be  disposed  coolly 
to  enumerate  all  these  qualities  and  actions,  produ- 
cing a  sort  of  dry  descriptive  litany  ;  he  will  be  more 
specially  struck,  according  to  the  mood  of  a  given 
moment,  by  this  or  that  particular  aspect  of  the  ob- 
ject of  his  contemplation  ;  he  will  let  his  fancy  dwell 
on  that  aspect,  suffer  himself  to  be  entirely  possessed 
by  it,  and  develop  it  in  his  song  to  the  exclusion  of  all 
others,  until  the  reflection  in  his  poet's  soul  is  rendered 
tangible  in  form  to  his  fellow-men,  and  becomes, 
although  unsubstantial,  a  perfect,  indelible  creation. 
And  what  is  this  creation,  seen  first  by  the  poet  in 
his  mind's  eye,  then  by  his  cunning  word  made  visible 
to  the  world  ?  heard  first  by  him  in  his  mind's  ear, 
then  poured  by  his  cunning  metre  into  music  for  all  ? 
this  creation  first  revealed  to  him  in  that  semi-trance 
of  the  soul,  when  the  poet  is  lifted  into  a  world  which 
is  not  that  of  every  day  and  where  voices  speak  to 


140  VEDIC  INDIA. 

him  and  visions  come  to  him  he  knows  not  how? 
Is  it  a  song?  a  picture  ?  it  is  all  that  and  more  :  it  is  a 
god.  What  he  has  seen  and  heard,  and  rendered,  is  so 
complete,  so  real  that  he  is  the  first  to  forget  that 
what  he  started  from  was  really  only  one  of  many 
aspects  or  qualities  belonging  to  an  already  familiar 
deity  (divinized  natural  object,  or  power),  and  lo ! 
the  magic  wand  of  language  wielded  by  fancy  has 
done  its  work,  as  the  epitJiet  or  ttoun  becomes  a  name, 
the  quality  or  action  it  expresses  becomes  a  person,  and 
where  there  ivas  one  god,  there  now  are  two,  henceforth 
imagined  and  worshipped  distinctly  and  separately, 
in  total  forgetfulness  of  their  original  identity.  And 
what  was  a  poetical  description  of  certain  attribu- 
tions, certain  effects,  becomes  the  god's  personal  his- 
tory, the  story  of  his  adventures. 

8.  This  is  the  way  that  gods — and  myths — are 
born.  And  nowhere  can  the  process  be  caught  in 
the  act,  so  to  speak,  as  in  the  Rig- Veda,  where 
poetical  creation  often  hovers  so  closely  over  the 
boundary  line  between  reality  and  myth  as  to  make 
it  doubtful  to  which  it  finally  belongs.  And  no 
apter  illustration  of  the  process  can  we  have  than  in 
the  person  of  the  other  Sky-god,  Varuna,  who, 
from  a  simple  attribution,  rose  to  be  perhaps  the 
sublimest  figure  of  the  Vedic  pantheon.  All  an- 
cient peoples  used  to  say  that  "  the  heavens  cover  or 
encompass  the  earth  and  all  it  contains,"  some- 
times adding  "  like  a  tent  "  or  "like  a  roof  "—and 
meant  it  literally,  not  metaphorically,  for  to  their 
unscientific  minds,  which  knew  nothing  of  optical 
delusions,  but  accepted  unquestioningly  the  impres- 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  I4I 

sions  conveyed  to  them  by  their  senses,  the  blue 
vault  %vas  a  blue  vault,  solid  and  immutable — nay 
the  very  type  of  solidity  and  immutability,  a  veri- 
table yfrwament — a  designation,  by  the  by,  which 
shows  how  words  will  survive  exploded  notions  (like 
the  rising  and  setting  of  the  sun  )  and  sometimes 
perpetuate  in  the  popular  mind  the  errors  which  gave 
them  birth.  Now  Sanskrit  has  a  root  VRI  "  to  cover," 
— a  prolific  one,  which  can  be  traced  in  many  words 
of  kindred  meanings, — and  one  of  its  most  direct 
formations  is  this  very  name  of  Varuna,  It  is  as 
though  we  called  the  sky  "  the  coverer,  the  enfolder," 
and  indeed  there  would  be  nothing  amiss  with  any 
one  of  our  modern  poets  referring  to  "  the  all-cover- 
ing, enfolding  heavens."  Only,  we  would  admire  the 
line  as  a  beautiful,  picturesque  bit  of  imagery,  but  it 
would  not  crystallize  in  our  minds  into  a  person  and 
a  name  (even  setting  apart  the  impossibility  of  such 
a  thing  on  religious  grounds)  ;  tJiat  is  a  faculty 
specially  belonging  to  those  remote  ages  of  the 
world's  youth,  which  have  on  that  account  been  nick- 
named "  the  inythopmc^'  i.  e.,  "  myth-making,"  ages 
— a  faculty  which  could  grow  only  out  of  an  exuber- 
ant fancy,  revelling  in  the  novelty  of  things,  unre- 
strained by  knowledge,  and  therefore  ready  of  belief. 
It  must  be  well  understood,  however,  that  things 
went  thus  at  the  very  beginning  (whenever  the  begin- 
ning was),  but  that  habit  and  routine  soon  asserted 
their  deadening  influence,  and  that  what  had  been  play 
of  poetical  fancy,  then  effusion  of  faith,  settled  into 
conventional  form  of  speech,  into  stereotype  phrase. 
It  is,  unfortunately,  at  this  stage,  further  stiffened  by 


142  VEDIC  INDIA. 

set  forms  of  worship,  that  the  unconscious  creations  of 
the  myth-makers  generally  reach  us,  even  in  the  earliest 
monuments  in  our  possession,  and  we  cannot,  there-- 
fore,  be  sufficiently  grateful  for  such  stray  glimpses 
into  the  earliest  workings  of  the  myth-making  brain 
as  the  Rig- Veda — and  that  alone — still  occasionally 
affords. 

9.  But — to  return  to  Varuna.  Scattered  through 
the  Rig-Veda  are  several  hymns  indited  specially  in 
his  honor,  sometimes  alone,  oftener  in  connection 
with  some  other  god.  In  Book  VII.,  attributed  to 
the  legendary  Rishi  Vasishtha,  and  at  all  events  pre- 
served and  used  as  a  sacred  heirloom  by  the  priestly 
family  of  that  name,  these  hymns  are  most  numerous. 
They  abound  with  short  descriptive  invocations  and 
passages  which,  if  pieced  together,  would  give  a  very 
lifelike  presentation  of  the  god  with  all  his  direct  and 
personal  physical  attributions  and,  what  is  still  more 
interesting,  his  connection  with  sundry  natural 
phenomena  that  cannot  possibly  be  dissociated  from 
the  sky  in  its  several  aspects.  The  fundamental 
idea  expressed  by  Varuna's  name  (as  explained 
above)  is  distinctly  traceable  in  many  of  these  pas- 
sages, but  in  none  so  much  as  in  the  following  three, 
which  may  be  said  to  contain  a  paraphrase  or  ampli- 
fication of  the  name  of  the  "  all-enfolder  " :  he  is  said 
to  "  cover  the  worlds  as  with  a  robe,  with  all  the 
creatures  thereof  and  their  dwellings  "  (VIII.,  41), 
to  "  enfold  the  heavens,"  and  to  "  measure  out  the 
earth  and  mark  her  uttermost  bounds  "  (the  horizon, 
where  sky  and  earth  seem  to  touch).  The  same 
idea — the  keynote  to  the  god's  special  identity — will 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 43 

be  clearly  seen  to  lurk  in  this  bit  of  grand  poetic 
imagery :  "  He  has  encompassed  the  nights  around  ; 
he  has,  by  his  wisdom,  established  the  dawns ;  he 
visibly  encompasses  all  things  "  (VIII.,  41).  What 
particularly  strikes  in  this  last  passage  is  the  moral 
quality  of  wisdom  which  is  added  to  the  god's  physi- 
cal attributions.  This  is  the  beginning  of  the  pro- 
cess of  spiritualization  which  all  nature-gods  undergo 
at  some  stage  of  their  career :  from  being  "  the  Sky  " 
he  becomes  the  "  god  oft\\Q  Sky,"  and  as  such  pre- 
sides over  all  the  numerous  phenomena  of  which  the 
sky  is  the  seeming  scene ;  the  alternations  of  light 
and  darkness  come  under  his  rule,  as  well  as  the 
heavenly  bodies  themselves,  and  as  nothing  is  more 
obviously  and  strikingly  obedient  to  a  law,  so  regular 
in  a  certain  immutable  round  as  these  very  phenom- 
ena, Varuna  rose  to  be  the  supreme  embodiment 
and  guardian,  then  the  maker  of  that  law  and, 
by  an  easy  and  natural  transition,  of  all  law  and 
order,  moral  and  cosmic  both — "  King  of  gods  and 
men  "  in  mythic  phrase.  "  King"  is  the  title  more 
especially  consecrated  to  him,  though  he  is  also  fre- 
quently given  that  of  Asura.  As  always  happens  in 
such  cases,  the  god's  physical  and  spiritual  nature 
blend,  and  merge  into  each  other,  and  separate 
again,  until  it  is  very  difficult  at  times  to  decide 
when  certain  descriptive  phrases  apply  to  him  as  the 
material  sky  itself,  or  as  a  power  outside  of  it  and 
governing  it.  The  hymns  consecrated  to  him  con- 
tain some  very  grand  poetry  and,  at  all  events,  it  is 
quite  transparent  and  easy  to  comprehend  after  what 
has  just  been  said.     Sun  and  moon  are  said  to  be 


144  VEDIC  INDIA. 

his  eyes,  but  his  relation  to  the  former  is  expressed 
in  especially  varied  and  fanciful  imagery.  Some- 
times the  sun  is  Varuna's  golden  steed,  sometimes 
the  golden-winged  bird,  his  messenger,  that  dives 
into  a  sea  of  light ;  then  again  it  is  a  golden  swing 
hung  up  on  high;  on  one  occasion,  in  a  riddle-style 
very  familiar  to  the  Rishis,  Varuna  is  said  to  hold  up 
the  mighty  tree  by  its  top  in  the  groundless  space, 
with  its  roots  up, — the  tree-top  being  again  the  sun 
and  the  roots  its  beams. 

lO.  Besides  "  the  two  worlds "  {rodast.  Heaven 
and  Earth),  which  are  the  first  divine  couple  of  all 
mythologies,  there  is  a  third  which,  from  peculiar 
local  conditions,  early  assumed  a  still  greater  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  Aryas  of  Indfa  and 
almost  monopolized  their  passionate  interest.  This 
is  the  world  "  which  lies  between  the  two  others  " 
— antariksha,  the  Atmosphere  or  Air-region, — where 
the  winds  do  battle,  where  the  clouds  gather  and 
disperse,  where  the  waters  collect  until  they  form 
a  giant  reservoir,  a  mid-air  or  celestial  sea,'  which 
then  is  poured  down  on  the  earth  to  feed  and 
refresh  her.  From  its  seeming  position,  this  fateful 
region  might  well  be  made  a  dependence  of  the  sky 
and  given  into  King  Varuna's  keeping.  This  is  why 
he  is  said  to  have  hollowed  out  paths  for  the  rivers 
which  flow  by  his  command  ;  and,  on  earth,  the  Seven 
Rivers  are  once  called  "  his  sisters  "  ;  while  in  an- 
other very  remarkable  passage  he  is  likened  unto  a 
sea,  into  which  all  the  rivers  flow  yet  never  fill  it — 

'  Compare  the  Vouru-Kasha  of  the  Avesta,  Story  of  Media,  etc., 
p.  64. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  145 

a  striking  image  for  the  cloudy,  rain-laden  sky.  Of 
course  he  is  also  the  giver  of  rain  which,  as  so  fre- 
quently throughout  the  Rig-Veda,  is  called  "  the 
milk  of  the  kine,"  i.  e.,  the  rain-clouds,  which  hold 
the  waters  as  the  cow  the  milk  in  her  udder. 

II.  A  few  coherent  passages  culled  from  various 
hymns  to  Varuna  will  now  prove  intelligible,  and 
merge  the  fragmentary  features  of  this  sublimest  of 
Vedic  deities  into  a  more  complete  and  harmonious 
figure.     One  Rishi  sings: 

"  Sing  a  hymn,  pleasing  to  Varuna  the  King — to  him  who  spread 
out  the  earth  as  a  butcher  lays  out  a  steer's  hide  in  the  sun. — 
He  sent  cool  breezes  through  the  woods,  put  mettle  in  the  steed 
[the  sun],  milk  in  the  kine  [clouds],  wisdom  in  the  heart,  fire  in 
the  waters  [lightning  in  the  clouds],  placed  the  sun  in  the  heavens, 
the  Soma  on  the  mountains.' — He  upset  the  cloud-barrel  and  let 
its  waters  flow  on  Heaven,  Air,  and  Earth,  wetting  the  ground 
and  the  crops. — He  wets  both  Earth  and  Heaven,  and  soon  as  he 
wishes  for  those  kine's  milk,  the  mountains  are  wrapt  in  thunder- 
clouds and  the  strongest  walkers  are  tired.     ..."  (V.,  85.) 

"Varuna  laid  out  the  sun's  path,  and  sent  the  waters  coursing 
to  the  sea  [celestial  or  atmospheric — sa»iudra\  ;  for  the  days  he 
appointed  their  wide  tracks  and  guides  them  as  a  racer  does  his 
mares. — His  breath  is  the  wind  that  rushes  through  the  air.  .  . 
(VII.,  87.)  He  leads  forth  the  great,  the  holy  sun-steed,  that 
brings  a  thousand  gifts. — When  I  gaze  upon  his  face,  I  seem  to 
see  him  as  a  blazing  fire,  as  the  King  causes  me  to  behold  the 
splendor  of  light  and  darkness  in  the  heavens.  .  .  .  (VII.,  88.) 
The  stars  up  there,  that  are  seen  at  night,  where  do  they  hide 
in  the  day  ?  But  Varuna's  ordinances  are  immutable  and  the  moon 
goes  shining  brightly* through  the  night.  .  .  .  (I.,  24.)  He  who 
knows  the  path  of  the  birds  as  they  fly  through  the  ample  space, 

'  Soma'  is  the  plant  from  which  the  sacrificial  beverage  is  pre- 
pared, of  which  much  more  later  on — the  Haoma  of  the  Eranians. 
See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  p.  65. 


146  VEDIC  INDIA. 

and  on  the  sea  the  ships,  ...  he  who  knows  the  track  of 
the  wind,  .  .  .  he  is  seated  in  his  mansion  protecting  the  law, 
Varuna,  Almighty  King,  and  looks  down  attentively  from  there  on 
all  that  is  hidden,  on  all  that  has  been  and  is  still  to  be  done. 
Arrayed  in  golden  mail,  he  wraps  himself  in  splendor  as  in  a  gar- 
ment' and  around  him  sit  his  spies  [the  stars  at  night,  the  sun- 
beams by  day]." — (I.,  25.) 

12.  The  "  law  "  of  which  Varuna  is  keeper,  the 
"  immutable  ordinances  "  which  he  has  established 
and  jealously  maintains,  are  The  Rita  —  origi- 
nally the  Cosmic  Order,  which  regulates  the  mo- 
tions of  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  the  alterna- 
tions of  day  and  night,  of  the  seasons,  the  gathering 
of  the  waters  in  clouds  and  their  downpour  in  rain  ; 
in  short,  the  order  that  evolves  harmony  out  of 
chaos,  and  the  visible  scene  of  whose  working  is  the 
sky.  That  this  order  is  the  result  of  a  higher  Law 
is  clear — a  law  which  the  gods  themselves  (the  Sun, 
the  Moon,  the  Winds,  etc.)  can  never  transgress ; 
and  that  it  is  a  beneficent  law,  is  no  less  evident. 
Therefore  Rita  is  holy,  is  true,  it  is  "  the  right 
path  " — the  Right  itself,  the  Absolute  Good,  which 
is  at  once  transferred  from  the  tangible  and  visible 
into  the  invisible  and  abstract  world — from  the 
physical  into  the  spiritual.  There  is  a  moral  Rita 
as  there  is  a  material  one,  or  rather  the  same  Rita 
rules  both  worlds.  What  Law  is  in  the  physical, 
that  Truth,  Right,  is  in  the  spiritual  order,  and  both 
are  Rita.  Therefore  the  god  who  is  the  ordainer 
and  keeper  of  the  physical  law  is  also  the  guardian 

'  Compare  the  attributions  of  Ahura-Mazda  in  the  Avesta.  See 
Story  of  Media,  etc.,  p.  61. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  147 

and  avenger  of  the  moral  law,  the  punisher  of  sin. 
The  Arya  loved  light — the  light  of  day  and  of  the 
sun — with  a  passionate  adoration  and  transports  of 
gratitude,  equalled  only  by  his  loathing  and  fear  of 
darkness,  with  its  dangers  and  snares,  in  any  form  ; 
and  lying  and  wrong-doing, — in  a  word,  sin — was 
to  him  moral  night,  with  all  its  horrors.  Now 
Varuna  was  the  dispenser  of  both  light  and  dark- 
ness ;  when  displeased  with  mortal  man,  he  turned 
his  face  from  him,  and  it  was  night.  The  accepted 
poetical  expression  of  this  fact  was,  "  Varuna  binds 
the  sinner  with  his  fetters."  For  man  felt  as  help- 
less in  the  dark  as  though  bound  and  given  over 
without  defence  to  the  dangers  he  could  not  see. 
Disease  was  another  of  Varuna's  fetters,  and  lastly — 
death.  To  Varuna,  therefore,  man  when  oppressed 
with  the  consciousness  of  wrong-doing,  of  sin,  cries 
out  for  pardon  and  mercy.  And  there  are  in  the 
Rig-Veda  a  few  penitential  hymns  which,  for  beauty 
and  depth  of  feeling,  rival  the  best  of  the  kind  in 
any  literature.  Vasishtha's  (in  Book  VII.)  are  the 
most  impressive. 

13.  The  poet  thinks  back  with  rapture  of  a  time 
when  he  was  high  in  Varuna's  favor ;  he  describes 
a  glorious  vision  he  once  had,  when  it  was  given  him 
to  behold  the  god  face  to  face ;  he  was  taken  on 
board  Varuna's  own  ship,  and  together  they  glided 
over  the  celestial  waters,  with  gently  rocking  mo* 
tion ;  and  there  in  that  ship,  on  that  day  of  blessed- 
ness, the  god  gave  him  the  wondrous  power  of  song, 
to  be  his  Rishi  so  long  as  days  and  dawns  follow  one 
another.     But  there  has  been   a   change:    in  some 


148  VEDIC  INDIA. 

way,  unknown  to  himself,  Vasishtha  has  angered  his 
divine  friend,  who  has  heaped  woes  on  him,  and  sent 
sickness  to  chastise  him,  and  from  the  depth  of  his 
misery  he  sends  forth  his  moan  : 

"What  has  become  of  our  friendship,  when  we  used  to  commune 
so  harmlessly  together  ?  when  I  was  allowed  access  to  thy  house  of 
the  thousand  gates? — If  thy  friend,  O  Varuna,  who  was  dear  to  thee, 
if  thy  companion  has  offended  thee,  do  not,  O  holy  one,  punish  us 
according  to  our  guilt,  but  be  thou  the  poet's  shelter."     (VII.,  88.) 

"  I  speak  unto  myself :  when  shall  I  be  once  more  united  with 
Varuna?  Will  he  again  accept  my  offering  without  displeasure? 
When  shall  I,  consoled  at  heart',  behold  him  reconciled? — I  ask, 
wishing  to  know  my  sin  ;  I  go  to  ask  the  wise.  They  all  tell  me  the 
same  in  sooth  :  *  King  Varuna  it  is  who  is  wroth  with  thee.' — What, 
O  Varuna,  was  that  worst  of  misdeeds  for  which  thou  smitest  thy 
worshipper  and  friend?  .  .  .  Absolve  us  from  the  sins  of  our  fathers, 
and  forgive  those  which  we  committed  ourselves.  Release  Vasishtha 
like  a  calf  from  the  rope. — It  was  not  our  own  will — it  was  seduction, 
an  intoxicating  drink,  passion,  dice,  thoughtlessness.  The  stronger 
perverts  the  weaker  ;  even  sleep  brings  on  unrighteousness." 
(VII.,  86.) 

"Let  me  not  yet,  O  Varuna,  enter  into  the  house  of  clay.  Have 
mercy,  almighty,  have  mercy  ! — If  I  go  along,  trembling  like  a  cloud 
driven  by  the  wind,  have  mercy,  almighty,  have  mercy. — Through 
want  of  strength,  thou  pure  one,  have  I  gone  astray  :  have  mercy, 
almighty,  have  mercy  ! — Thirst  came  upon  the  worshipper,  though 
he  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  waters :  have  mercy,  almighty,  have 
lYiercy  ! — Whenever  we,  being  but  men,  O  Varuna,  commit  an  offence 
before  the  heavenly  host,  whenever  we  break  thy  law  through  thought- 
lessness, have  mercy,  almighty,  have  mercy  !  "     (VII,,  89.) 

These  hymns  of  Vasishtha's  form  a  cycle,  a  whole 
more  complete  and  personal  than  is  usual  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  yet  will  bear  supplementing  with  a  few  more 
short  passages  of  particular  significance,  from  other, 
scattered  hymns,  like  the  following : 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  I49 

"  However  we  may  transgress  thy  law,  day  by  day,  after  the  manner 
of  men,  O  Varuna,  do  not  deliver  us  unto  death,  nor  to  the  blow  of 
the  furious,  nor  to  the  wrath  of  the  spiteful.  My  songs  flee  to  thee 
.  .  .  as  birds  to  their  nest  .  .  .  as  kine  to  the  pastures  .  .  .  (I.,  25.) 
Take  from  me  my  own  misdeeds,  nor  let  me  pay,  O  King,  for  others* 
guilt.  .  .  .  (II.  28.)  That  I  may  live,  take  from  me  the  upper  rope, 
loose  the  middle,  and  remove  the  lowest.*     (I.,  25.) 

14.  A  peculiarity  of  the  worship  of  Varuna  in 
the  Rig-Veda  is  that  he  is  invoked,  more  often 
than  alone,  jointly  with  his  brother,  MiTRA  ("the 
Friend  "),  who  represents  sometimes  the  sun  itself, 
and  sometimes  Light  generally,  or  again  the  Power 
who  rules  the  sun  and  brings  him  forth  to  shine  on 
the  world  at  the  proper  time.  In  this  mild,  wholly 
beneficent  deity  we  recognize  the  Mithra  of  the 
Eranians,  with  whom  the  Avesta  makes  us  so  inti- 
mately acquainted — only  he  has  paled  somewhat 
and  become  more  impersonal,  although  he  has  re- 
tained all  the  qualities  which  distinguished  him  be- 
fore the  separation  of  the  two  races,  especially  that 
of  the  all-seeing  and  truth-loving  god.'  But  some- 
how he  has  lost  his  individuality  (only  one  single 
hymn — III.,  59 — is  addressed  to  him  personally  and 
separately),  and  has  almost  merged  it  with  that  of 
Varuna,  all  of  whose  attributions,  functions,  and 
honors  he  shares.  The  sun  is  said  to  be  "  the  eye 
of  Mitra  and  Varuna,"  as  well  as  Varuna's  alone, 
and  Light  is  the  chariot  on  which  both  gods,  insepa- 
rably, ride  through  space  on  their  appointed  path, 

'  We  must  imagine  a  man  bound  to  a  post — round  the  shoulders, 
the  middle  of  the  body,  and  the  ankles. 
^  See  Slory  0/ Media,  etc.,  pp.  67-72. 


I50  VEDIC  INDIA. 

and  of  which  it  is  once  said  that  it  is  golden  at  break 
of  day,  while  its  poles  take  the  color  of  a  gray 
metal  at  the  setting  of  the  sun.  They  are  joint 
keepers  of  the  Rita,  avengers,  but  also  forgivers,  of 
sin — in  short,  there  is  not  a  thing  said  of  Varuna 
that  is  not  repeated  of  both,  not  a  thing  asked  of 
Varuna  that  is  not  requested  of  both,  only  perhaps 
not  quite  so  emphatically,  with  not  quite  the  same 
wealth  of  striking  imagery.  Then  it  is  Mitra's  own 
particular  business  to  wake  men  and  call  them  to  the 
duties  of  a  new  day.  Hence  in  time  lie  somehow 
comes  to  be  associated  with  the  phenomena  of  light, 
and  Varuna  to  be  considered  as  more  especially  the 
nocturnal  sky,  although  originally  there  is  no  such 
distinction,  and  he  is  proved  by  a  hundred  passages 
to  have  been  the  lord  of  both  day  and  night.  But 
it  took  root,  and  the  commentators  already  assert  it 
positively.  This  was  the  beginning  of  a  curious 
transformation  which  made  of  the  Vdruna  of  the 
later,  Brahmanic,  pantheon  a  being  entirely  different 
from  the  sublime  Sky-god  of  the  Rishis,  although 
the  change  can  be  traced,  step  by  step,  back  to  the 
Vedic  presentation.  Thus,  in  the  later  mythology, 
Vdruna  is  merely — a  Water-god  :  stripped  of  all  his 
celestial  attributions,  nothing  is  remembered  but. his 
association  with  the  waters — the  atmospheric  sea  and 
rain-rivers, — and  this  watery  realm  is  transferred  to 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  Then  again,  of  his  moral 
nature  only  the  sterner,  the  forbidding,  side  is  re- 
tained ;  he  is  the  punisher  only,  and  the  persist- 
ent use  of  the  conventional  expressions  :  "  fetters," 
"  ropes,"  "  nooses,"  suggests  a  certain  cruelty  and 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  15I 

malignancy  utterly  foreign  to  the  majestic  and  just, 
but  also  merciful,  King  of  Heaven,  who  is  expressly 
said  to  "  take  pity  even  on  the  sinner."  ' 

15.  Varuna  and  Mitra  are  both  Adityas.  That 
means  Sons  of  Aditi.  Aditi,  in  consequence,  is 
habitually  entitled  "  Mother  of  the  Gods,"  and  is, 
undoubtedly,  herself  a  divine  person,  or,  as  we 
would  say,  a  goddess.  But  the  goddess  of  what  ? 
Or  what  does  she  represent  in  the  order  of  natural 
objects  or  phenomena  in  which  all  mythical  concep- 
tions have  at  soiiie  time,  originally,  had  their  roots  ? 
To  decide  this  question  is  the  more  dif^cult  that 
aditi  originally  is  merely  an  adjective,  and  used  as 
such  quite  as  frequently  as  in  the  other  way,  so  that 
the  interpreter  is  frequently  confronted  by  a  doubt 
as  to  the  proper  manner  of  rendering  the  word  in  a 

'  Although  not  a  sign  of  anything  ignoble  can  be  discovered  about 
the  Varuna  of  the  early  Rishis,  it  must  be  admitted  that  in  their 
efforts  to  render  the  various  aspects  of  the  multiform  Sky-god,  they 
did  not  always  keep  clear  of  the  quaintness,  amounting  to  grotesque- 
ness,  which  is  such  a  disturbing  feature  of  classical  Indian  poetry, 
such  a  blemish  of  Indian  art.  It  is  fortunate  that  the  men  of  the 
early  Vedic  ages  did  not  yet  attempt  to  render  word-pictures  in  plas- 
tic form,  for  when  Varuna  is  said,  on  one  occasion,  to  be  "  four- 
faced,"  in  right  transparent  reference  to  the  four  cardinal  points — 
— an  Indian  chisel  would  not  have  failed  to  represent  a  human  figure 
with  four  faces,  if  not  four  heads  on  one  neck.  And  from  the  hosts 
of  nightmare  monstrosities  which  people  the  later  temples,  it  is  easy 
to  imagine  what  Indian  art  would  have  produced  in  the  way  of  sculp- 
tural illustration  to  such  passages — rare  it  is  true — as  that  where 
Varuna  is  described  as  having  three  shining  tongues  in  his  mouth, — 
sun,  moon,  and  lightning — (Atharva-Veda),  or  as  "  pushing  onward 
with  his  tongue,"  or  lastly  as  "  climbing  up  the  heavens  and  dispersing 
the  foes'  evil  spells  with  his  Jlaming  foot"  (the  sun  again  !  Rig- Veda, 
VIII.,  41). 


152  VEDIC  INDIA. 

given  passage.  On  the  other  hand,  as  is  usually  the 
case  with  such  ambiguous  expressions,  the  literal 
meaning  of  the  common  adjective  gives  us  a  very 
helpful  clue  towards  the  solution  of  the  problem  pre- 
sented by  the  name.  "  Aditi  "  means  "  not  bound, 
not  limited,"  but  it  is  difficult  to  determine  by  ivhat 
the  being  thus  described  is  "  not  bound."  Some- 
times it  manifestly  refers  to  unboundedness  in  space, 
so  in  this  verse,  partly  quoted  already,  of  a  hymn  to 
Mitra-Varuna  : 

"  Mitra  and  Varuna,  you  mount  your  chariot,  which  is  golden 
when  the  dawn  bursts  forth,  and  has  iron  '  poles  at  the  setting  of  the 
sun  ;  from  thence  you  see  what  is  boundless  \aditi,  space],  and  what 
is  limited  [diti,"  the  earth],  what  is  yonder  and  what  is  here." 

At  other  times  the  boundlessness  of  time — eternity 
or  immortality — is  suggested  by  the  context,  and  the 
bonds,  freedom  from  which  is  expressed,  are  those  of 
death.  This  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  following 
beautiful  passage,  supposed  to  be  spoken  by  a  living 
man  musing  on  his  own  coming  death. 

"  Who  will  give  me  back  to  the  great  Aditi,  that  I  may  see  again 
father  and  mother?  Agni  [fire],  the  first  of  immortal  gods,  .  .  . 
he  will  give  me  back  to  the  great  Aditi,  that  I  may  see  again  father 
and  mother."     (I.,  24.) 

'  Ayas  is  translated  "  iron  "  for  convenience,  but,  though  it  is  the 
name  of  a  metal  and  philologically  answers  the  eisen,  "  iron  "  of  our 
modern  language,  it  has  been  impossible  as  yet  to  ascertain  what  was 
"  the  third  metal  "  mentioned  in  the  Rig- Veda,  there  being  no  doubt 
about  gold  or  silver. 

'  The  particle  a  is  negative,  which  means  that,  being  prefixed  to  a 
word,  it  annuls  the  meaning  conveyed  by  that  word.  So  diti  means 
"bound,  limited  "  ;  therefore  aditi  means  "  not  bound,  not  limited." 


THE  OLDER  GODS.  153 

This  alludes  to  the  custom  of  cremation  and  its 
accepted  religious  meaning.  Fire,  while  consuming 
the  body,  conveys  the  spirit  to  the  boundless — ajid 
bondless — world,  where  it  is  reunited  to  those  who 
went  before.  In  another,  and  very  quaint  passage,  a 
horse  about  to  be  sacrificed  is  to  become  aditi  (ad- 
jective)— a  phrase  which  becomes  intelligible  when  we 
know  that  animals  offered  in  sacrifice  were  supposed, 
literally,  to  go  to  the  gods,  there  to  lead  forever  a  sort 
of  beatified  existence. 

1 6.  It  will  be  noticed  that  Aditi  (as  a  person  or 
divine  being),  whether  representing  boundlessness  in 
space  or  in  time,  or  generally  freedom  from  bonds  of 
any  kind,  always  seems  to  mean  not  only  that,  but 
something  more,  tending  always  higher  and  deeper 
into  pure  abstraction,  until  in  the  following  passage, 
it  is  broadened  into  the  most  abstruse  metaphysical 
symbolism : 

"  Aditi  is  the  sky.  Aditi  is  the  intermediate  region  \antariksha — 
the  atmosphere]  ;  Aditi  is  father  and  mother  and  son  ;  Aditi  is  all  the 
gods  and  the  five  tribes  ;  Aditi  is  whatever  has  been  born  ;  Aditi  is 
whatever  shall  be  born."     (I.,  8g.) 

This  remarkable  effort  at  an  exhaustive  definition 
describes  not  only  boundless  space,  eternity,  and  im- 
mortality, but  universal,  all-embracing,  all-producing 
nature  itself,  or — to  grasp  the  last  and  highest  meta- 
physical abstraction — Infinity,  THE  INFINITE.  Such 
is  the  final  meaning,  which  has  been  abstracted  and 
condensed  from  the  name  and  conception  of  Aditi, 
by  the  most  philosophical  students,  out  of  all  the 
passages  directly  referring  to  or  bearing  on  this  crea- 


154  VEDIC  INDIA. 

tion  of  the  contemplative  Indian  mind.  Of  all  who 
have  treated  this  ofttimes  puzzling  subject,  no  one 
has  used  more  beautiful  language  or  more  convincing 
argument  than  Professor  Max  Miiller.  "  Aditi,"  he 
says,  "  is  now  and  then  invoked  in  the  Veda  as  the 
Beyond — as  what  is  beyond  the  earth,  and  the  sky, 
and  the  sun,  and  the  dawn."  This  gives  the  gist  of 
the  question,  which  then  is  developed  in  one  of  the 
master's  most  exquisite  and  brilliant  pages  : 

"  Aditi  is  in  reality  the  earliest  name  invented  to  express  the  Infi- 
nite, not  the  Infinite  as  the  result  of  a  long  process  of  abstract  reason- 
ing, but  the  visible  Infinite,  visible  by  the  naked  eye,  the  endless 
expanse  beyond  the  earth,  beyond  the  clouds,  beyond  the  sky.  .  . 
The  idea  of  the  Infinite  was  revealed,  was  most  powerfully  impressed 
on  the  awakening  mind  by  the  East.  It  is  impossible  to  enter  fully 
into  all  the  thoughts  and  feelings  that  passed  through  the  minds  of 
the  early  poets  when  they  found  names  for  that  far,  far  East  from 
whence  even  the  early  dawn,  the  sun,  the  day,  their  own  life  seemed 
to  spring.  .  .  .  Aditi  is  a  name  for  that  distant  East ;  but  Aditi 
is  more  than  the  dawn.  Aditi  is  beyond  the  dawn,  and  in  one  place 
the  dawn  is  called  '  the  face  of  Aditi.'  That  silent  aspect  awakened 
in  the  human  mind,  the  conception  of  the  Infinite,  the  Immortal,  the 
Divine.  .  .  .  Aditi  is  not  a  prominent  deity  in  the  Veda,  never- 
theless hers  is  a  familiar  name,  that  lives  on  in  that  of  the  Adityas — 
the  sons  of  Aditi. 

17.  Varuna  and  Mitra  then  are  Adityas.  We 
know  now  what  is  the  far  from  literal  meaning  of  such 
terms  as  "  Sons  of  Aditi  "  :  Sons  of  Eternity, — Sons 
of  Immortality, —  Sons  of  boundless  Time  and  Space, 
— there  is  nothing  but  what  is  metaphorical,  appro- 
priate, and  poetically  beautiful  in  all  these  names  for 
the  deified  impersonations  of  Sky  and  Light.  They 
are  shared  by  several  more  divine  beings,  who  seem 
but  paling   reflections  of   their  great  brothers.     Of 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  I55 

these  only  one,  Aryaman,  is  frequently  addressed 
with  words  of  praise  and  homage,  though  never 
alone,  but  jointly  with  Mitraand  Varuna.  A  fourth, 
Bhaga,  quite  impersonal  and  only  occasionally  men- 
tioned along  with  the  others,  is  of  great  interest  to 
us  because  of  his  name,  which,  in  a  very  slightly 
modified  form,  BOGII,  has  been  adopted  by  the  en- 
tire Slavic  branch  of  the  Indo-European  family  of 
nations  as  that  of  God — the  one  God  of  Christian 
monotheism.  The  Adityas  are  said  to  be  seven  ;  yet 
only  two  more  are  named  occasionally  in  the  hymns ; 
the  seventh  remains  in  a  shadow  of  uncertainty, 
while  now  and  then  an  eighth  is  spoken  of;  once  or 
twice  the  Fire-god  would  seem  to  be  that  eighth.' 
But  all  thisis  very  vague  and  misty.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, is  evident  from  the  hymns  to  all  the  Adityas, 
which  are  quite  numerous  :  they  all  share, — and  so 
does  Aditi  herself — in  the  special  attributions  so  char- 
acteristic of  Mitra  and  Varuna ;  they  are  all  keepers  of 
the  Rita  and  its  innumerable  ordinances,  they  all  are 
guardians  of  purity  and  truth  ;  avengers— and  also 
forgivers — of  sins,  healers  and  givers  of  health,  and 
the  prayer  "to  be  held  or  made  guiltless  before  the 
face  of  Aditi  and  the  Adityas  "  is  a  familiar  and  oft- 
repeated  one. 

'Just  as  Atar  is  once  mentioned  in  the  Avesta  as  an  eighth 
Amesha-Spenta,  though  otherwise  the  "Bountiful  Immortals"  are 
always  seven  in  number.  That  there  is  some  affinity  between  the 
original  conceptions — Amesha-Spentas  and  Adityas — has  always  been 
suspected,  and  the  names  do  not  militate  against  it,  seeing  that 
Aditya,  in  the  sense  of  "  Son  of  Immortality  "  would  not  match 
badly  with  Amesha,  "Immortal."  See  Story  of  Media,  &\.c.^  pp. 
41  and  78. 


1S6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

1 8.  This  is  a  prayer  often — and  naturally — ad- 
dressed to  Agni — Fire — the  purifier  and  men's  most 
intimate  friend  and  protector,  towards  whom  they 
turn  with  the  same  "  respectful  tenderness  and  affec- 
tionate familiarity  "  which  we  found  so  striking  a 
feature  of  the  Eranians'  worship  of  the  same  deity 
under  his  Eranian  name  of  Atar.' 

"  O  Agni  [the  Vedic  Rishi  invokes],  accept  this  log  which  I  offer 
to  thee,  blaze  up  brightly  and  send  up  thy  sacred  smoke  ;  touch  the 
topmost  heavens  with  thy  mane  and  mix  with  the  beams  of  the  sun. 
Thou  Lord  of  wealth,  drive  away  from  us  the  enemies,  give  us  rain 
from  heaven,  and  food  inexhaustible,  and  drink  a  thousand-fold. 
Thou  youngest  of  the  gods,  their  messenger,  thou  goest,  O  sage, 
wisely  between  the  race  of  gods  and  that  of  men,  meaning  well 
by  both."      (II.,  6.) 

Among  the  hundreds  of  hymns  to  Agni  treasured 
up  in  the  Rig- Veda,  few  indeed  could  be  found  that 
did  not  contain  some  allusion — description,  simile, 
epithet — to  the  absolutely  literal  and  material  nature 
of  the  original  fire-worship  in  Aryan  India.  Dr.  Muir 
has  collected  a  vast  number  of  such  characteristic 
expressions,  sometimes  consisting  of  one  or  two 
words,  sometimes  of  a  whole  descriptive  sentence 
which,  if  strung,  or  rather  grouped,  together,  would 
compose  the  most  complete,  the  most  vivid  and 
picturesque  portrayal  of  the  dread,  yet  familiar  ele- 
ment in  its  various  aspects  of  regulated  beneficial 
activity,  of  resistless  power  or  devastating  fury. 
"  Fed  by  wood,  with  blazing,  tawny  mane,  he  sends 
up  his  smoke  like  a  pillar  to  the  sky,  or  like  a  waver- 
ing banner.     Though  headless  and  footless,  he  rushes 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  p.  79_/. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 5/ 

through  the  woods  Hke  a  bull  lording  it  over  a  herd 
of  cows,  roaring  like  a  lion  or  like  mighty  waters.  He 
envelops  the  woods,  consumes  and  blackens  them 
with  his  tongue ;  with  his  burning  iron  grinders,  his 
sharp,  all-devouring  jaws,  he  shears  the  hairs  of  the 
earth,  like  a  barber  shaving  a  beard.  When  he 
has  yoked  his  wind-driven  coursers  to  his  car,  the 
beautiful,  fleet,  ruddy  steeds  that  can  assume  all 
shapes,  he  bellows  like  a  bull  and  invades  the 
forests ;  the  birds  are  terrified  at  the  noise  when 
his  grass-devouring  sparks  fly  round,  and  his  wheels 
mark  his  path  with  blackness.  He  is  a  destroyer 
of  darkness  and  sees  through  the  gloom  of  the 
night.  The  world  which  had  been  swallowed  up 
and  wrapped  in  darkness,  and  the  heavens,  are 
manifested  at  his  appearance,  and  the  gods,  the 
sky,  the  earth,  the  waters,  the  plants,  rejoice  in  his 
friendship."  ' 

19.  To  the  beings  and  things  that  rejoice  in 
Agni's  friendship,  should  be  added  first  and  fore- 
most— men.  Familiar  and  even  bold  as  the  Aryan 
Hindu  generally  was  in  his  intercourse  with  his 
Devas,  whom  he  readily  addressed  as  "  friends,"  Agni 
alone  of  immortals  appears  to  him  so  close  and  dear 
as  to  be  entitled  "  brother  "  :  "  Father  Heaven,  guile- 
less mother  Earth,  brother  Agni,  be  gracious  to  us  !  " '' 

'  J.  Muir,  Original  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.,  pp.  211-213.  The 
sentences,  sometimes  single  epithets  or  brief  similes,  which  are  here 
grouped  into  a  consecutive  description,  are  scattered  through  the 
entire  collection  of  hymns,  and  picked  out  of  a  far  larger  number 
gathered  by  Dr.  Muir. 

^ '"'' Dyavsh  pitah,  Prithivt  judtar  adhrug,  Agne  bhrdtar   ,    .    ." 


158  VEDIC  INDIA. 

implores  one  poet.  For,  "  friendly  to  mankind,  he 
despises  no  man  ;  kindly  disposed  to  the  people,  he 
lives  in  the  midst  of  every  family  "  (X.,  91,  2)  ; 
he  is  a  father,  mother,  brother,  kinsman,  and  friend, 
and  one  of  his  habitual  and  preferred  surnames 
is  "Agni  Vaishvanara,"  i.  c,  "Agni  that  be- 
longs to  all  men."  And  indeed,  what  other  deity 
actually  dwells  with  man — "  the  immortal  among  the 
mortals  " — as  his  guest  and  constant  companion, 
his  assistant  in  humble  household  tasks,  his  light- 
giver  and  home-maker?  No  wonder  he  is  called  the 
special  protector  of  householders,  nay  the  house- 
holder par  excellence,  making  the  hearth  sacred  and 
all  the  acts  of  which  it  is  the  centre  and  agent.  Yet, 
dear  as  Agni  is  held  in  his  capacity  of  domestic 
friend,  he  is  still  more  revered  when,  as  mentioned 
in  the  hymn  quoted  above  (p.  156),  he  goes  back  and 
forth  as  "  the  messenger  between  the  two  worlds," 
or  "  the  two  races  "  (of  gods  and  men),  the  mediator 
through  whom  alone  constant  intercourse  between 
the  two  is  kept  up.  But  it  is  not  the  Agni  of  the 
hearth — the  Domestic  Fire — who  fulfils  this  high 
mission ;  it  is  the  Sacrificial  Fire,  whose  holy  flames 
are  not  desecrated  by  any  mean  ofifice,  but  are  en- 
kindled at  every  prayer  time — dawn  of  day,  noon, 
and  sunset  are  the  three  regular  prayer  times,  the 
Agnihotras — to  receive  and  consume  the  offerings 
of  the  worshippers,  principally  melted  butter,  milk 
curds,  and  cakes.  Melted  butter  especially  was 
poured  abundantly  on  the  flames,  as  it  produces  a 
brilliant  and  vigorous  blaze,  hence  such  epithets  be- 
stowed on  Agni  as  "  butter-haired,"  "  butter-backed," 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 59 

"butter-formed,"  and  "gleaming  with  butter."  As 
no  sacred  function — from  great,  solemn  religious 
ceremonies  like  the  coronation  of  kings  or  other  pub- 
lic special  occasions  to  the  humblest  householder's 
family  prayers — could  be  performed  without  one  or 
more  sacrifices,  it  was  but  natural  that  Agni  should 
have  been  said  to  know  all  about  sacrifices  and  ritual, 
indeed  to  have  instituted  sacrifice,  first  among  the 
gods,  then  among  men,  have  been  entreated  to  con- 
duct the  sacrifice  in  flawless  order  and  make  it  ac- 
ceptable to  the  gods,  and  that  among  the  many 
honorary  titles  bestowed  on  him,  should  have  been 
that  of  "  divine  Hotar"  or  priest: 

"  Agni  rectifies  all  these  mistakes  which  we  ignorant  men  commit 
against  your  prescriptions,  O  ye  most  wise  gods.  Those  matters  relat- 
ing to  sacrifice  which  we  mortals  of  feeble  intellects,  with  our  imper- 
fect comprehension,  do  not  understand,  may  Agni,  the  venerated 
priest  [//f/a;-]  who  knows  all  these  points,  adjust,  and  worship  the 
gods  at  the  proper  seasons."     (X.,  2,  4-5.) 

20.  The  kindling  of  the  fire  on  the  altar  was 
itself  the  most  sacred  of  all  religious  ceremonies 
and  a  complicated  one,  requiring  time  and  exertion. 
For  the  fire  originally  was  not  lit  from  another  flame 
or  blown  into  life  from  embers,  but  produced  anew 
by  friction  out  of  two  peculiarly  shaped  pieces  of 
wood.  This  proceeding  was  given  a  mysterious — or 
rather  mystical — significance  and  called  "  the  Birth 
of  Agni."  The  parents  of  the  ever  newly  born  god 
(therefore  "  the  eternally  young,  or  "  the  youngest  " 
— Yavishtha)  were  the  "  two  sticks,"  or  pieces  of 
wood," — the  Aran! — out  of   which    friction  called 


l6o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

forth  the  spark.  The  simple  apparatus  might  be 
called  a  fire-drill  or  fire-churn,  since  the  action  con- 
sisted in  rapidly  twirling  the  upper  piece  (generally 
made  of  Ash vattha- wood,  Ficiis  Rcligiosa, — hence  its 
sacredness,  see  p.  29)  in  the  lower  hollowed  piece,  of 
some  softer  wood.  The  incongruity  between  the 
sacredness  ascribed  to  the  action,  the  mysteriousness 
of  the  result,  and  the  almost  ludicrously  common- 
place tool,  appears  to  have  struck  those  earnest  wor- 
shippers, in  whom  faith  by  no  means  excluded 
thought,  somewhat  as  a  puzzle,  which,  however,  their 
sense  of  reverence  prevented  them  from  carrying  to 
the  extent  of  scoffing  or  scepticism.  Innumerable 
are  the  passages  which  most  simply  and  realistically 
describe  the  familiar  process,  then  express  an  almost 
childlike  wonder  that  a  god  should  have  such  homely, 
feeble  beginnings.  "  This  process  of  generation  has 
begun  ;  let  us  rub  out  Agni  as  heretofore.  This  god 
is  deposited  in  the  two  pieces  of  wood.  .  .  .  He 
is  produced  of  them  like  a  new-born  infant."  In  one 
place  wonder  is  expressed  that  a  living  being  should 
spring  out  of  dry  wood  ;  in  another,  that,  born  of  a 
mother  that  cannot  suckle  him,  he  should  grow  so 
rapidly  and  at  once  begin  his  work  as  messenger. 
"  This  I  declare,  O  Heaven  and  Earth,"  one  poet 
exclaims,  horrified,  "  the  son,  no  sooner  born,  devours 
his  parents.  But,"  he  hastens  to  add,  "  I,  a  mortal, 
cannot  judge  a  god;  Agni  is  wise  and  knows." 

21.  So  far,  nothing  can  be  plainer  than  the  ma- 
terial nature  of  the  god.  There  is  even  very  little 
anthropomorphism  about  it.  It  is  the  pure,  un- 
disguised element  of  Fire.     Nor  is  any  abstraction 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  l6l 

attempted  when  Agni  is  entreated  to  disperse  the 
fiends  (of  darkness)  with  his  club,  or  is  said  to  look 
on  the  world  with  a  thousand  eyes.  All  this  clearly 
lies  within  his  attributions  as  light-giver  and  dis- 
penser of  heat  on  earth.  But  it  is  not  on  earth  alone 
that  light  and  heat  abide ;  not  to  earth  alone  is  their 
action  limited.  A  people  less  thoughtful  and  observ- 
ant than  the  ancient  Aryas  could  not  fail  to  asso- 
ciate the  phenomena  of  lightning  with  those  of  fire, 
or,  when  contemplating  the  sun — Surya — in  his 
exuberant  glory  of  light  and  heat,  to  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  their  own  fire — whether  mildly  illum- 
ing the  household  hearth,  blazing,  butter-fed,  on  the 
altar,  or  devouring  forests  and  hostile  forts — was  but 
his  earthly  substitute,  or  rather  that  the  two  were 
07ie,  of  one  substance,  variously  manifested.  And 
indeed,  this  is  the  view  most  explicitly  expressed  in 
this  one  brief  line :  "Agni  is  Surya  in  the  morning, 
Surya  is  Agni  at  night."  It  is  an  accepted  and  oft- 
repeated  saying  that  Agni  has  more  than  one  abode, 
sometimes  two,  and  then  again — more  truly — three  : 
on  earth,  as  fire;  in  the  heavens,  as  the  sun  ;  in  the 
atmosphere,  as  lightning.  From  this  to  identifying 
all  three  together  is  but  one  step,  and  it  is  frequently 
taken.  The  humble  birth — from  "  two  dry  sticks  " 
— which  suited  the  god  in  his  earthly  manifestation, 
no  longer  accounted  for  his  existence  in  those  exalted 
spheres  ;  "  Son  of  the  Waters  " — Apam-Napat  ' — is 

'  The  name  is  certainly  older  than  the  Aryan  colonization  of 
India  ;  it  must  be  Indo-Eranian  at  least,  if  not  older  still,  since  we 
find  it  in  the  Avesta  as  one  of  the  habitual  surnames  of  Atar.  See 
Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  37,45,  80. 


/ 

1 62  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  mystic  but  appropriate  name  of  Agni,  the 
Lightning,  who,  after  lying  long  hidden  in  the 
celestial  cloud-ocean  (Saimidra),  flashes  forth  from 
it,  in  very  truth  "  water-born."  It  is  only  an  obscurer 
form  of  the  same  myth  when  Agni  is  alluded  to  as 
"  the  son  of  seven  mothers,"  or,  "  of  many  mothers," 
or  of  "  the  Mothers  "  generally,  because  then  the 
clouds,  under  the  name  of  Apas,  "the  waters,"  are 
taken  individually,  separately,  from  the  mass  of 
suspended  waters,  which  is  imagined  as  the  celestial 
sea,  the  Sanmdra. 

22.  Like  the  Eranians,  the  Aryas  of  India  held 
that  Fire  dwelt  not  only  in  water,  but  in  plants. 
Both  positions  seem,  at  first  sight,  untenable.  Yet 
we  saw  how  easily  the  first  of  them  is  justified  by 
fact,  and  a  moment's  thought  shows  that  the  sec- 
ond is  but  the  sequel  of  it.  For,  placing  ourselves 
for  a  moment  on  their  standpoint,  fire  could  not  be 
brought  out  of  plants  (wood  comes  of  trees  and  trees 
are  plants)  if  it  were  not  in  them.  Fire — heat — 
hidden  in  the  plant,  is  what  moves  the  sap,  quickens 
the  growth  ;  it  is  the  latent  principle  of  the  plant's 
life.  But  how  did  it  get  into  them  ?  Very  simply: 
it  descended  straight  from  heaven,  with  the  waters 
which  are  its  native  element,  in  the  showers  which, 
with  thunder  and  lightning,  pour  down  on  the  thirsty 
earth.  In  the  rain  Fire  descends,  not  upon,  but  into 
the  ground,  and  thence  rises  into  the  plants  as  sap 
and  life  ;  do  we  not  say  ''  vital  spark  "  ?  There  is 
no  lack  of  passages  in  the  Rig-Veda  which  more  or 
less  transparently  describe  this  very  process.  For 
instance  :  "  His  road  is  the  flood  that  pours  through 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 63 

the  arid  space ;  he  reaches  earth  with  the  clear 
waters  ;  he  devours  what  is  old  (wood),  and  pene- 
trates into  new  plants."  (I.,  95,  10.)  And  again  : 
"  When  he  is  brought  down  from  the  highest  Father 
[Dyaus,  Heaven],  he  climbs  into  the  sapful  plants 
.  to  be  born  again,  ever  most  young." 
23.  This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  ways  in  which 
Agni  was  supposed  to  have  descended  to  the  earth. 
But  this  manifestation  is  accomplished  in  a  very 
roundabout  way  and  continually  repeated.  The 
question  remained,  in  what  more  direct  manner  he 
came  among  men  for  the  first  time  in  his  more  fa- 
miliar and  visible  form — for  Agni's  original  home  is 
not  sought  on  earth.  It  is  said  :  "  Agni  was  born  first 
in  heaven  ;  his  second  birth  is  with  us  ;  the  third 
in  the  clouds,  imperishable.  .  .  ."  (X.,45,  i.)  The 
Aryas,  no  doubt,  had  several  myths  embodying  their 
beliefs  or  traditions — speculations  or  reminiscences 
— on  this  fascinating  question,  which  has  not  only 
not  lost  any  of  its  interest  in  the  course  of  the  ages, 
but  rather  gained  more,  in  the  first  place  because  we 
are  better  able  to  measure  and  appraise  all  that  fire 
has  done  for  our  race,  in  the  second  because  we 
have  hardly  arrived  nearer  to  a  reliable  or  at  least 
plausible  solution,  and  we  are  so  made  that  curiosity 
never  relents  until  satisfied.  But  the  Rig-Veda  is 
not  a  book  of  mythology.  Myths  are  not  told  by 
the  old  Rishis,  but  only  alluded  to  as  things  .well 
known  to  their  audience, — just  as  a  modern  preacher 
might  refer  to  Jonah's  adventure  with  the  whale  or 
the  Hebrew  boys'  fortitude  before  the  fiery  ordeal, 
without  every  time  narrating  at  length  the  familiar 


164  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Bible  stories.  From  such  brief  snatches  and  allu- 
sions we  gather  that  Agni  was  brought  from  afar 
by  some  superhuman  agency  ;  and  he  has  always 
to  he.  found,  fetched  out  of  hiding,  so  strongly  had 
the  notion  of  the  latent  presence  of  fire  in  water 
and  plants  taken  hold  of  men's  fancy.  The  finder 
who  is  most  frequently  named  is  Matarishvan,  a 
being  whose  nature  is  not  explained,  and  who  is  said 
to  have  brought  Agni  "  from  heaven,"  "  from  the 
gods,  very  far  away,"  and  to  have  given  him,  "  as  a 
gift,"  to  the  Bhrigus,  an  equally  mysterious  race, 
nearly  connected  with  humanity,  however,  as  they, 
in  their  turn,  after  again  concealing  him  in  the  wood, 
brought  him  forth  and  gave  him  to  men — or  to 
Manu,  apparently  the  first  man,  whose  name  stands 
for  the  entire  race  ;  which  can  only  mean  that  the 
illustrious  priestly  race  of  the  Bhrigus  claimed  that 
their  ancestors  taught  men  to  "  bring  forth,"  i.  e., 
kindle  fire  by  friction.  As  Matarishvan  is  certainly 
the  lightning  ("  Agni  is  manifested  to  him  the  very 
moment  he  is  born  in  the  highest  heaven  "),this  very 
coherent  if  incomplete  story  is  not  at  all  spoiled  by 
the  fact  that  Agni  is  himself  repeatedly  called  by 
that  name.  It  is  more  confusing  to  find  that,  once 
in  a  while,  he  is  spoken  of  as  being  found  without 
Matarishvan's  assistance.  For  instance  :  "  The  wise 
Bhrigus  followed  him,  the  hidden  one,  as  one  hastens 
after  cattle  that  has  strayed  ;  they  found  him  in  the 
waters  and  placed  him  in  the  homes  of  men."  But 
then  philology  by  a  careful  comparative  study  of  the 
name  and  the  large  family  of  its  kindred  or  derived 
words  in  the  Aryan  languages,  both  ancient  and  of 


1 


THE  OLDER   GODS.  165 

later  formation,  has  proved  that  the  mythical  Bhrigus 
had  something  to  do  with  such  things  as  "  flame  " 
and  "  blaze,"  if  not  with  the  lightning  itself.  The 
affinity  strikes  us  still  more  clearly  when  we  are  told 
that  "  Atharvan  drew  Agni  forth,  by  friction,  out 
of  the  blue  lotus-blossom  "  (a  not  unusual  poetical 
name  for  the  vault  of  heaven),  since  the  name  at 
once  suggests  a  fire-priest,  being  identical  with  that 
of  the  Eranian  priests  of  Atar,'  besides  being,  prob- 
ably, one  of  the  oldest  names  for  Lightning  itself, 
not  to  mention  the  Sanskrit  words  atJiare,  "  flame," 
and  atharyu,  "  blazing,"  a  by-word  of  Agni.^  As 
there  was  a  class  of  priests  called  Atharvans, — those 
specially  appointed  to  the  care  of  the  different  fires 
at  great  sacrifices, — this  is  another  instance  of  the 
connection  claimed  by  classes  or  families  of  men  with 
semi-mythical  progenitors.  The  Angiras,  another 
highly  reverenced  family  of  hereditary  priests  and 
Rishis,  are  also  mentioned  in  the  Rig-Veda  as  having 
first  kindled  Agni.  And  "Angiras,"  in  the  singular, 
as  the  name  of  an  individual,  is  now  that  of  the 
human  but  half-mythical  ancestor  of  the  priestly 
race,  and  now  unmistakably  a  name  of  Agni  himself. 
The  confusion  produced  by  so  many  names  is  not  as 
great  as  might  appear  at  first  sight,  because  one  soon 
detects  an  underlying  general  idea,  which  is  neither 
more  nor  less  than  the  kinship  between  Agni  and  his 
mortal  worshippers,  indeed  points  to  a  belief  in  the 
celestial  and  fiery  origin  of  the  human  race. 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  150-152.     This  is  also  the  only  trace 
in  the  Rig- Veda  of  the  older  Eranian  name  of  Fire. 
*  See  ih.,  p.  42. 


1 66  VEDIC  INDIA. 

24.  Truly,  the  association  of  ideas  is  very  obvioUs. 
Of  the  heavenly  birth  and  descent  of  Fire  (which 
name,  it  must  not  be  forgot,  covers  the  conception 
and  manifestations  of  Heat  generally)  no  doubt  was 
entertained,  whether  in  its  patent — obvious — form,  as 
sunlight  and  lightning,  or  in  its  latent — hidden — form, 
as  the  elementary  principle  concealed  in  the  waters 
and  the  plants,  and  ever  ready  to  escape  therefrom. 
Now  the  warmth  of  the  living  body  is  a  still  clearer 
indication  of  the  divine  presence,  and  Agni  may  be 
said  to  have  descended  into  men  in  the  same  way 
that  he  has  descended  into  plants — not  to  mention 
another  possibility :  that  of  his  passing  into  the 
human  frame  in  the  guise  of  the  vegetable  food  it 
consumes,  and  then  from  generation  to  generation, 
as  the  "  vital  spark,"  which,  being  perpetuated  by 
heredity,  is  not  destroyed  even  by  death.  In  this 
sense  also  the  god  is  "  immortal  among  mortals." 
Well  may  he  be  called,  "  he  of  many  births."  Numer- 
ous are  the  passages  in  which  "  community  of  race  " 
— kindred — is  claimed  with  gods  for  men,  explicitly, 
though  in  a  general  way  :  thus  the  verse  "  We  have 
in  common  with  you,  O  gods,  the  quality  of  brothers 
in  the  mother's  bosom  "  is  fully  explained  by  this 
other  :  "  Heaven  (Dyaus)  is  my  father,  who  bore  me ; 
my  mother  is  this  wide  earth  (Prithivi)."  The  oldest 
Rishis  are  styled  "  heaven-born,"  and  one  poet  in- 
vokes them  all  by  name  (Angiras  and  Manu  in  the 
number),  as  "  knowing  his  race  "  and  the  fact  that 
"  it  reaches  up  to  the  gods,  its  stock  is  among  them," 
And  if  these  claims  and  assertions  seem  too  vague 
to  be  directly  referred  to  Agni,  no  doubt  is  possible 
before  the  positive  statement  that  he  "  gave  birth  to 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 6/ 

men  "  and  "  found  a  way  for  his  descendants  "  and 
the  direction  to  men  "  to  invoke  him  as  the  first 
father." '  Marvellous  to  watch  is  this  dim  percep- 
tion of  the  unity  of  nature,  the  kinship  of  man  with 
the  entire  universe  (or  at  least  our  own  solar  system), 
so  lately  established  by  modern  science,  struggling 
into  expression  at  that  early  age,  with  nothing  but 
poetic  intuition  to  guide. 

25.  We  have  now  learned  to  know  Agni :  ist,  in 
heaven  as  the  Sun  ;  2d,  in  the  atmosphere,  as  Light- 
ning ;  3d,  on  earth,  as  the  Domestic,  and  4th,  as  the 
Sacrificial,  Fire.  We  have  still  to  be  introduced  to 
the  god  in  his  fifth  aspect,  in  which  he  plays  an  ex- 
ceedingly important  part  in  the  Hindu  Arya's  life  : 
as  consumer  of  corpses  and  guide  of  departed  souls 
to  the  abodes  of  "  the  Fathers."  For,  unlike  the 
Eranians,  the  Hindu  did  not  hold  that  the  impure 
contact  of  death  could  pollute  the  holy  element,  but 
on  the  contrary  ascribed  to  the  latter  the  power  of 
purifying  and  sanctifying  all  things  its  flames  con- 
sume or  only  touch. ^     Yet  the  "  funereal  Agni  "  was 


'  This  theme,  of  man's  celestial  and  fiery  origin,  is  treated  with 
great  erudition  and  convincing  mastery  by  Abel  Bergaigne,  in  his 
colossal  work  La  Religion  Vcdique  (vol.  i.,  pp.  2)1  ff-  chapter  entitled 
Origine  Celeste  de  la  Race  Humaine). 

*  What  would  the  Eranians  have  said  to  the  modern  Brahmanic 
custom  of  floating  corpses  down  the  Ganges,  to  be  carried  out  to  the 
ocean  by  the  sacred  river's  sanctifying  waters  !  This  dreadful  cus- 
tom is  especially  in  force  at  Benares,  the  great  city  near  the  junction  of 
the  Ganges  and  Djumna,  the  holiest  spot  of  all  Brahmanic  India. 
There  the  dying  are  actually  carried  to  the  river  and  plunged  into  it 
to  breathe  their  last  in  the  sacred  waters,  not  only  singly,  but  at  cer- 
tain times  in  crowds.  Of  course  all  these  practices  were  abomina- 
tions to  the  Parsis.     See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  xii^ff. 


1 68  VEDIC  INDIA. 

kept  separate  from  all  other  forms  of  fire,  and  was 
not  allowed  either  on  the  sacrificial  altar  or  on  the 
hearth. 

Js^6.  There  is  an  entire  book  of  the  Rig-Veda — the 
ninth — which,  contrary  to  all  the  others,  is  devoted 
to  the  praises  of  only  one  deity — SOMA.  Like  Agni, 
with  whom  he  is  most  intimately  associated,  Soma 
has  many  forms,  and  more  than  one  dwelling-place ; 
like  Agni,  the  place  of  his  birth  is  not  on  earth  ;  like 
Agni,  the  form  under  which  he  first  presents  himself 
is  an  unmistakably  material  one  :  Agni  is  the  fire  and 
Soma  is  a  plant.  Only,  whereas  Agni,  under  this 
his  earthly  form,  was  put  to  many  and  widely  differ- 
ing uses,  the  Soma  plant  had  but  one  :  an  intoxi- 
cating beverage  was  prepared  from  it,  which  was 
offered  at  sacrifices,  being  partaken  of  by  the  wor- 
shippers and  poured  into  the  flame  on  the  altar.  And 
like  the  Fire-worship,  the  Soma-cult  takes  us  back  to 
the  so-called  Indo-Eranian  period,  the  time  before 
the  separation  of  the  two  great  sister-races,  for  we 
have  seen  the  Soma,  under  the  name  of  Haoma, 
play  exactly  the  same  part  in  the  worshipand  sacri- 
fices of  the  Eranian  followers  of  the  Avesta^  Indeed 
we  probably  have  here  one  of  the  very  few  relics  of 
an  even  earlier  time — that  of  the  undivided  Aryan, 
or  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  "  the  Proto-Aryan 
period."  '  For,  as  we  noticed  in  its  place,  the  Avesta 
bears  evident  traces  of  the  use  of  the  Haoma  at  the 
sacrifices  being  a  concession  made  by  Zarathushtra 

'  Such  is  the  opinion  of  most  students  of  both  sacred  books,  con- 
vincingly expressed  in  two  special  studies  by  that  eminent  and  deep- 
seeing  scholar,  Windischmann. 


15. — DYING   HINDU    BROUGHT   'i'O   THE   GANGES   '1  O    HKEATHE   HIS   LAST 
IN  THE  WATERS  OF  THE  SACRED  RIVER. — (MODERN  CUSTOM.) 


169 


170  VEDIC  INDIA. 

to  old-established  custom,  not  without  subjecting  it 
to  a  reforming  and  purifying  process.' 
'C27.  In  India,  as  in  Eran,  the  Soma  is  mountain- 
born.^  It  is  said  that  King  Varuna,  who  placed  the 
Sun  in  heaven  and  Fire  in  the  waters,  placed  the 
Soma  on  the  mountain.  Like  Fire,  it  is  brought  to 
men  by  superhuman  agency :  "  The  one,"  says  a 
hymn  already  quoted,  "  was  brought  from  heaven 
by  Matarishvan,  the  other  by  the  falcon  from  the 
mountain."  The  Soma  used  in  India  certainly  grew 
on  mountains,  probably  in  the  Himalayan  highlands 
of  Kashmir.  It  is  certain  that  Aryan  tribes  dwelt 
in  this  land  of  tall  summits  and  deep  valleys  in  very 
early  times — probably  earlier  than  that  when  the 
Rig-hymns  were  ordered  and  collected,  or  the  al- 
ready complicated  official  ritual  which  they  mostly 
embody  was  rigidly  instituted.  From  numerous  in- 
dications scattered  through  the  hymns,  it  appears 
probable  that  this  was  the  earliest  seat  of  the  Soma 
worship  known  to  the  Aryan  Hindus,  whence  it 
may  have  spread  geographically  with  the  race  it- 
self, and  that,  as  the  plant  did  not  grow  in  the  lower 
and  hotter  regions,  the  aridity  of  some  parts  disa- 
greeing with  it  as  much  as  the  steam-laden  sultriness 
of  others,  they  continued  to  get  "from  the  moun- 
tains "  the  immense  quantities  needed  for  the  con- 
sumption of  the  gradually  widening  and  increasing 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  118-121. 

'  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  however,  that  it  can  hardly  be  the 
identical  plant.  Scholars  are  pretty  well  agreed  that  the  Aryan 
sacrificial  liquor,  though  retaining  the  same  name,  may — or  indeed 
must — have  been  prepared  from  different  plants  in  the  different  lands 
where  Aryas  settled. 


THE  OLDER   GODS.  171 

Aryan  settlements.  A  regular  trade  was  carried  on 
with  the  Soma  plant,  and  the  traders  belonged  to 
mountain  tribes  who  were  not  Aryan,  and,  therefore, 
irreverently  handled  their  sacred  ware  like  any  other 
merchandise,  bargaining  and  haggling  over  it.  This 
is  evidently  the  reason  why  Soma-traders  were  con- 
sidered a  contemptible  class^so  much  so  that,  when 
customs  hardened  into  lawl;  they  were  included  in 
the  list — comprising  criminals  of  all  sorts,  breakers 
of  caste  and  other  social  laws,  followers  of  low  pro- 
fessions, as  usurers,  actors,  etc. — of  those  who  are 
forbidden  to  pollute  sacrifices  by  their  presence.  fTo 
an  Aryan  Hindu,  the  man  who  owned  the  Soma 
and  did  not  press  it  was  a  hopeless  reprobate.  In 
fact  he  divided  mankind  into  "pressers"  and  "not 
pressers,"  the  latter  word  being  synonymous  with" 
"enemy"  and  "godless  barbarians."^  They  were 
probably  itinerant  traders,  and  the  bargain  was  con- 
cluded according  to  a  strictly  prescribed  ceremonial, 
the  details  of  which  seem  singularly  absurd  and  gro- 
tesque, until  one  learns  that  they  had  a  symbolical 
meaning.  The  price  (probably  for  a  given  quantity, 
though  that  is  not  mentioned)  is  a  cow — light-col- 
ored, or,  more  precisely,  reddish-brown,  with  light- 
brown  eyes,  in  allusion  to  the  ruddy  or  "  golden  " 
color  of  the  plant — which  must  not  be  tied,  nor 
pulled  by  the  ear — i.  e.,  not  handled  roughly. 

28.  The  Soma  used  in  India  is  thought  to  be  the 
Asclepia  acida  or  Sarcostemma  viniinale,  a  plant  of 
the  family  of  milk-weeds.  It  is  described  as  having 
hanging  boughs,  bare  of  leaves  along  the  stalks,  of 
light,  ruddy  color  ("  golden"),  with  knotty  joints. 


172 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


containing,  in  a  fibrous,  cane-like  outer  rind,  an 
abundance  of  milky,  acid,  and  slightly  astringent  sap 
or  juice.     It  is  this  juice  which,  duly  pressed  out, 


l6. —  THE   SOMA   PLANT. 


mixed  with  other  ingredients,  and  fermented,  yields 
the  intoxicating  sacrificial  beverage.  The  process — 
the  most  sacred  and   mystic  act  of  the  Vedic  and 


THE  OLDER   GODS.  1 73 

Brahmanic  liturgy — is  alluded  to  in  the  Rig-Veda 
innumerable  times,  but  in  such  fanciful  and  often 
enigmatical  ways  that  we  might  be  puzzled  to  recon- 
struct it,  had  we  not  in  some  of  the  Bramanas  most 
precise  directions,  amounting  to  a  thorough  and  de- 
tailed description  of  the  operation.  Though  pages 
might  easily  be  written  on  the  subject,  the  following 
brief  description  after  Windischmann  must  suffice, 
as  it  is  both  graphic  and  comprehensive : 

/  "  .  .  .  The  plant,  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  collected  by  moonlight 
on  the  mountains,  is  carried  on  a  car  drawn  by  two  goats  to  the  place 
of  sacrifice,  where  a  spot  covered  with  grass  and  twigs  is  prepared,' 
crushed  between  stones  by  the  priests^ ;  and  is  then  thrown,  stalks  as 
well  as  juice,  sprinkled  with  water,  into  a  sieve  of  loose  woollen 
weave,  whence,  after  the  whole  had  been  further  pressed  by  the 
hand,  the  juice  trickles  into  a  vessel  or  kettle  which  is  placed 
beneath.*  The  fluid  is  then  mixed  with  sweet  milk  and  sour  milk, 
or  curds,  with  wheaten  and  other  flour,  and  brought  into  a  state  of 
fermentation  ;  it  is  then  offered  thrice  a  day  and  partaken  of  by  the 
Brahmans.  ...  It  was  unquestionably  the  greatest  and  holiest  offer- 
ing of  the  ancient  Indian  worship.  .  .  .  The  gods  drink  the  offered 
beverage  ;  they  long  for  it  ;  tliey  are  nourished  by  it  and  thrown  into 
a  joyous  intoxication.  .  .  .  The  beverage  is  divine,  it  purifies,  it  is 
a  water  of  life,  gives  health  and  immortality,  prepares  the  way  to 
heaven,  destroys  enemies,"  etc.  \ 

'  The  vedi,  made  of  the  famous  kiisha  grass,  and  called  "  the  seat 
of  the  gods,"  for  whom  it  was  prepared,  and  who  were  supposed  in- 
visibly to  occupy  it,  when  they  came  to  receive  the  sacrifice  offered 
them,  on  being  formally  invited  thereto.  It  was  therefore  meet  that 
the  Soma  should  be  laid  on  this  consecrated  spot  before  the  ceremony 
of  pressing  began. 

"■^  A  mortar  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Rig- Veda,  but  rarely.  As  a 
mortar  was  used  in  the  preparation  of  the  Eranian  Haoma  {^Story  of 
Media,  etc.,  pp.  118-121),  this  was  very  probably  the  older  custom,  a 
relic  of  the  forgotten  Indo-Eranian  period. 

'  These  vessels  were,  very  appropriately,  made  of  the  sacred 
ashvattha-wood  (Ficus  religiosa). 


1/4  VEDIC  INDIA. 

'  The  fieriness  of  the  drink,  its  exhilarating  and  in- 
spiriting properties  are  especially  expatiated  upon. 
The  chosen  few  who  partook  of  it — few,  for  besides 
the  ofificiating  priests,  only  those  were  allowed  a 
taste  who  could  show  that  they  had  provisions 
enough  stored  up  to  last  them  three  years — give 
most  vivid  expression  to  the  state  of  exaltation,  of 
intensified  vitality,  which  raises  them  above  the  level 
of  humanity.  Some  such  effusions  are  neither  more 
nor  less  than  bragging ;  for  instance  (X.,  119):; 

I.  I  think  to  myself  :  I  must  get  a  cow  ;  I  must  get  a  horse : 
have  I  been  drinking  Soma? — 2.  The  beverages  carry  me  along  like 
impetuous  winds:  have  I,  etc. — 3.  They  carry  me  along  as  fleet 
horses  a  chariot :  have  I,  etc. — 4.  The  hymn  has  come  to  me  as  a 
cow  to  her  beloved  calf :  have  I,  etc. — 5.  I  turn  my  song  over  in  my 
heart  as  a  carpenter  fashions  a  chariot :  have  I,  etc.  .  .  . — 7.  The 
five  tribes  seem  to  me  as  nothing  :  have  I,  etc. — 8.  One  half  of  me  is 
greater  than  both  worlds  :  have  I,  etc. — 9.  My  greatness  reaches  be- 
yond the  heavens  and  this  great  earth  :  have  I,  etc. — 10.  Shall  I  carry 
this  earth  hither  or  thither?  Have  I,  etc. — 11.  Shall  I  shatter  this 
earth  here  or  there?  Have  I,  etc. — 12.  One  half  of  me  is  in  the 
heavens  and  I  have  stretched  the  other  down  deep  :  have  I,  etc. — 
I  am  most  great ;  I  reach  up  to  the  clouds  :  have  I,  etc.  '    , 

The  efTects  of  the  exhilarating  beverage  are  not 
always  described  in  such  exaggerated  strains.  The 
following  passages,  culled  here  and  there,  although 

'  Until  very  lately  this  hymn  was  supposed  to  be  spoken  by  the  bat- 
tle-god Indra  after  quaffing  the  sacrificial  liquor.  A.  Bergaigne 
shows  that  it  comes  much  more  appropriately  from  an  exhilarated 
mortal. 

"  We  have  drunk  the  Soma,"  exclaims  another  ;  "  we  have  become 
immortal,  we  have  entered  into  light,  we  have  known  the  gods. 
What  can  an  enemy  now  do  to  us,  or  what  can  the  malice  of 
any  mortal  effect  ?  " 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 75 

enthusiastic,  depict  no  abnormal  condition  of  body 
or  mind,  but  may  be  produced  by  the  moderate  and 
wholesome  use  of  a  rich  stimulant : 

'"  He,  the  wise,  has  entered  into  me,  who  are  simple." — "  Make 
me  burn  as  with  fire,  O  Soma ,  .  .  .  prolong  our  life  as  the  sun 
renews  the  days  each  morning.  .  .  .  Our  intelligence  is  excited  by 
thee  .  .  .  thou  hast  descended  into  all  our  limbs.  .  .  .  Disease  has 
fled,  powerless  .  .  .  the  powerful  Soma  has  descended  into  us  and 
our  days  are  lengthened."  V 

29.  Through  all  this  runs  a  consciousness  of  the 
presence  of  something  divine  in  the  liquor  which  can 
produce  such  wonderful  effects  in  those  who  partake 
of  it.  And  indeed,  this  liquor  is  only  the  earthly 
form  of  the  celestial  Soma,  or,  more  correctly,  it  is  a 
symbol  of  the  celestial  Soma,  the  god  Soma.  When 
the  sacrificer,  after  pouring  a  small  quantity  of  the 
sacred  beverage  into  the  flame  on  the  altar,  describes 
how  the  gods — especially  the  battle-god  Indra — 
quaff  Soma  by  the  pailful,  by  the  barrel,  and  only 
then  feel  strengthened  for  their  daily  strife  against 
the  powers  of  evil,  he  certainly  does  not  mean  it  liter- 
ally. There  is,  however,  a  divine  liquor  which  gives 
the  gods  (the  Powers  of  Nature)  strength  and  immor- 
tality, without  which  they  would  lose  their  might, 
their  eternal  youth,  their  life  even,  without  which 
the  world — our  world  at  least — would  become  barren 
and  dead,  and  uninhabitable ;  and  that  heavenly 
liquor,  the  veritable  Amrita  or  drink  of  immortality, 
is — the  rain,  the  dews,  perhaps  it  were  more  correct 
to  say,  the  moisture  which  is  diffused  through  nature, 
exhilarating,  vivifying,  calling  forth  and  fostering 
life  in  all  its  forms.     Of  the  gathering  and  flowing 


176  VEDIC  INDIA. 

of  this  fountain  of  life — the  amrita,  the  celestial 
Soma — the  sacrificial  process  is  an  apt  illustration: 
the  skin  on  which  the  pressing  stones  are  disposed  is 
the  cloud,  and  the  stones  themselves  are  the  thun- 
derbolts ;  the  sieve  is  the  sky,  the  liquor  that  falls 
through  it  in  more  or  less  abundant  drops  is  the  rain, 
and  the  large  vessel  or  kettle  into  which  they  fall  is 
the  Samudra — the  celestial  sea  that  holds  all  the 
atmospheric  waters.  The  likeness — the  symbol — is 
never  lost  sight  of.  Nothing  can  be  clearer  than 
this  invocation :  "  Drink  exhilaration  from  the 
heavenly  Soma,  O  Indra,  drink  it  from  the  Soma 
which  men  press  on  earth."  This  identification  of 
Soma  with  the  waters  and  with  plants  accentuates 
very  strongly  his  affinity  with  Agni  which  we 
noticed  from  the  start  and — to  make  a  long  line  of 
proof  and  argument  as  brief  as  our  limited  space 
commands — we  may  at  once  arrive  at  the  conclusion 
that  Soma,  in  this  phase  of  the  myth,  is  a  form  of 
Agni,  in  a  word,  is  liquid  fire. '  It  is  no  wonder, 
therefore,  that  the  two  should  be  so  constantly  asso- 
ciated together  and  even  invoked  jointly  in  numbers 
of  hymns  specially  addressed  to  them. 

30.  But  even  the  celestial  Soma,  the  drink  that  in- 
vigorates the  gods  and  gives  them  eternal  youth  and 
immortality,' — in  short,  the  amrita — cannot  rationally 

'  We  saw  that  the  fiery  or  vital  principle  is  conveyed  into  the  heart 
of  plants,  and  into  the  human  frame,  by  water.  For  exhaustive  stud- 
ies on  this,  as  it  may  be  called,  most  sacred  mystery  of  the  Aryan 
faith,  see  A.  Kuhn,  The  Descent  of  Fire  and  the  Celestial  Beverage ; 
A.  Bergaigne,  the  chapters  on  Agni  and  Soma  in  La  Religion 
Vedique  ;  and  Hillebrandt,    Vedische  Mythologie,  vol.  i. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  IJJ 

have  been  the  god  Soma.  Water,  moisture,  could 
not  possibly,  at  any  time,  be  thought  of  as  a  person. 
This  water,  this  moisture,  must  be  produced,  or  at 
least  held  in  keeping, — then  given  out,  distributed, 
by  a  being,  a  Power  that  could  be  imagined  as  a  per- 
son, and  when  we  find  that  power,  we  have  the  god. 
The  parallelism  between  Soma  and  Agni  which  we 
traced  throughout  this  study  points  to  the  a  priori 
conclusion  that,  Agni  being  the  Sun,  Soma  must  be 
the  Moon,  and  the  fact  instantly  occurs  to  us  that  in 
the  mythology  of  the  post-vedic,  so-called  "  epic " 
or  "classical,"  period,  down  to  our  own  day,  Soma 
has  always  been  and  is  the  moon.  Very  peculiar 
and  consistently  developed  are  the  later  Brahmanical 
theories  about  the  moon  as  expounded  in  the  Pura- 
nas,  but  always  hinging  on  this  one  fundamental 
fact,  that  the  moon  is  the  reservoir  of  ainrita,  the 
drink  of  the  gods,  and  both  in  these  and  the  poeti- 
cal works  it  has  a  number  of  epithets  alluding  to 
this.  During  the  light  part  of  the  month  (while  the 
moon  is  visible),  the  gods  drink  from  it — and  it  swells 
the  more  as  they  drink — the  sweet  ainrita  which 
makes  them  immortal.  During  the  dark  half  of  the 
month  (while  the  moon  is  invisible),  the  PiTRlS — the 
spirits  of  the  dead — drink  from  it,  when  it  gradually 
decreases.  Its  beams  are  woven  of  cool  watery 
atoms  which  penetrate  into  the  plants,  refresh  and 
vivify  them.  Another  has  it  the  other  way ;  the 
gods  approach  the  moon  at  its  full,  and  the  dead  on 
the  night  it  is  new.  The  same  in  the  Upanishads, 
which  are  earlier  than  the  Puranas.  "  The  Moon  is 
King  Soma,  the  food  of  the  gods."    The  same,  more 


178  VEDIC  lAWIA. 

frequently,  more  insistently,  in  the  Shatapatha- 
Brahmana,  the  most  important  of  all.  "  This 
King  Soma,  the  food  of  the  gods,  is  the  Moon. 
.  .  .  When  it  decreases,  then  they  feed  on  it." 
"...  The  Seasons  are  King  Soma's  royal  broth- 
ers, just  as  a  man  has  brothers."  Whose  brothers 
can  the  seasons  be  but  the  moon-god's  ? 

31.  And  so  it  turns  out  that  moon-worship  occu- 
pies a  prominent  place  in  the  Aryan  religion,  and 
that  the  ninth  book  of  the  collection  is  exclusively 
devoted  to  this  worship,  the  ritual  of  which  is  specially 
contained  in  the  Sama-Veda.  This  book,  and  for  that 
matter,  the  numerous  Soma-hymns  scattered  in  the 
other  books  of  the  Rig,  teem  with  allusions  too  trans- 
parent and  direct  to  need  explanation,  provided  the 
lunar  nature  of  the  deity  they  celebrate  is  thor- 
oughly comprehended,  whereas  they  would  be  hard 
to  make  even  tolerable  sense  of,  even  allowing  most 
amply  for  archaic  mannerisms  of  thought  and  ima- 
gery, under  the  supposition  that  the  god  Soma  is  only 
the  sacrificial  beverage  of  Aryan  worship  or  the 
celestial  beverage  of  the  gods — the  vivifying  mois- 
ture diffused  through  the  universe.  Some  of  the 
similes  are  very  graceful  and  pretty.  Soma  is  a 
well  of  sweetness  in  the  midst  of  the  sky ;  a  golden 
drop  hung  up  in  the  heavens ;  a  bowl  of  ambrosia 
{ainritd),  nay,  an  ocean  {samudra)  of  the  drink  of 
gods.  Soma  is  a  wise  god,  for  does  he  not  know 
the  times  and  the  seasons,  bring  round  the  months, 
and  fix  the  days  and  hours  for  the  rites,  and  the 
prayers,  and  the  sacrifices  which  are  the  gods'  due  } 
Soma  also  is  a  warrior  god,  vigorous  and  well  armed, 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  lyg 

equipped  for  battle  against  the  demons  and  monsters 
who  people  the  "  dark  forest  " — night,  and  whom  he 
dispels,  and  also  for  the  defence  of  the  precious 
spring  of  life  which  he  has  in  his  keeping,  and  which 
evil  beings,  hostile  to  the  Devas — the  Asuras — are 
ever  on  the  watch  to  steal.  To  whom  but  the  moon 
could  lines  like  the  following  apply  :  "  Soma  stands 
above  all  the  worlds,  similar  to  the  divine  Surya," 
or,  "  he  has  clothed  himself  in  the  radiance  of  the 
Sun,  and,  full  of  wisdom,  surveys  the  races  ?  "  Lastly 
there  is  a  myth  in  which  Soma  is  married  to  Surya, 
the  Sun-maiden,  and  the  very  hymn  (X.,  85)  which 
tells  this  myth  with  unusual  length  of  detail  and 
circumstance,  begins  with  this  passage,  the  most 
explicit  and  decisive  of  all,  which  indeed  sums  up  in 
few  words  the  results  to  which  we  have  laboriously 
worked  our  way  : 

"Through  the  Law  [Rita]  the  earth  stands  firm,  the  heavens 
and  the  Sun,  through  the  Law  the  Adityas  stand,  and  Soma  stands 
in  the  sky.     .     .     .     Soma  is  placed  in  the  midst  of  these  stars. 

"  When  they  crush  the  plant,  he  who  drinks  regards  it  as  Soma. 
Of  him  whom  the  priests  regard  as  Soma,  no  one  drinks. 

'*  Protected  by  those  who  shelter  thee  and  preserved  by  thy  guar- 
dians, thou,  Soma,  hearest  the  sound  of  the  crushing-stones  ;  but  no 
earthly  being  tastes  thee. 

"  When  the  gods  drink  thee,  O  god,  thou  increasest  again.   .  .  ." 

It  is  impossible  more  fully  to  realize  the  symbolism 
of  the  Soma  sacrifice.  Yet  there  is  no  lack  of  pas- 
sages which  as  plainly  express  the  conception  that 
the  god  descends  personally  into  the  plant,  giving 
up  his  own  body  and  limbs  to  be  broken  for  the  good 
of  men  and  gods,  and  that  a  mysterious  communion 
is  established  between  the  god  and  his  worshipper, 


l8o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

who  has  tasted  the  sacred  drink,  that  this  drink  is 
part  of  the  divine  substance.  This  thread  of  mysti- 
cism runs  through  the  whole  Rig-Veda :  We  have 
tasted  Soma, — the  god  has  descended  into,  us, — we 
have  become  like  unto  the  gods — immortal  life  is 
ours. 

32.  The  following  beautiful  prayer,  a  poetical 
gem  of  purest  water,  may  be  considered  as  the  crown- 
ing expression  of  the  Aryan  Soma-worship  in  its 
noblest,  most  spiritual  form  (IX.,  113). 

"Where  there  is  eternal  light,  in  the  world  where  the  sun  is 
placed,  in  that  immortal,  imperishable  world  place  me,  O  Soma! 

"  Where  the  son  of  Vivasvat  reigns  as  King,  where  the  secret  place 
of  heaven  is,  where  these  mighty  waters  are,  there  make  me  im- 
mortal ! 

"Where  life  is  free,  in  the  third  heaven  of  heavens,  where  the 
worlds  are  radiant,  there  make  me  immortal  ! 

"  Where  wishes  and  desires  are,  where  the  bowl  of  the  bright 
Soma  is,  where  there  is  food  and  rejoicing,  there  make  me  im- 
mortal ! 

"Where  there  is  happiness  and  delight,  where  joy  and  pleasure 
reside,  where  the  desires  of  our  desire  are  attained,  there  make  me 
immortal  ! "  • 

There  is  not  one  line  here,  not  one  image  that 
offers  the  least  difificulty  to  interpretation  if  the  iden- 
tity of  Soma  and  the  Moon  be  accepted  as  the  basis 
thereof — as  there  is  not  one  that  does  not  present 
almost  insuperable  difficulty  on  any  other  supposi- 
tion. The  "  bowl  of  the  bright  Soma,"  the  "  radiant 
worlds  "  (the  stars),  the  world  of  "  eternal  light,"  of 
"  the  mighty  waters  " — how  beautiful  and  how  self- 
evident,  when  we  know  that  the  moon  is  the  abode 

'  Tran-slated  by  Max  Miiller, 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  l8l 

of  the  dead  who  partake  of  its  "  honeyed  sweetness," 
even  as  the  gods  and,  Hke  the  gods,  quaff  length  of 
days  in  the  draught.  There  is,  however,  one  Hne  in 
this  passage  which  introduces  us  to  two  new  mythi- 
cal persons :  Vivasvat  and  his  son. 

33.  This  son  is  Yama,  whom  we  have  already 
learned  to  know  in  the  Avesta  as  YiMA,  Son  of 
ViVANHVANT,'  but  in  how  altered  a  garb  !  The  Rig- 
Veda  knows  very  little  about  Vivasvat  except  his 
name  and  that  he  is  Yama's  father ;  yet  that  he  had 
been  a  god  and  had  the  power  of  one  is  proved  by 
such  prayers  as  the  following,  addressed  to  him: 
"  May  the  shaft  of  Vivasvat,  the  poisoned  arrow,  not 
strike  us  before  we  are  old  !  "  "  May  Vivasvat  grant 
us  immortality.  Let  death  go  its  way  and  immor- 
tality come.  May  he  protect  our  people  to  their  old 
age."  But  this  is  only  a  faint  trace,  an  obliterated 
memory  of  the  position  he  must  have  occupied  in  a 
remote  Indo-Eranian  past,  for  in  the  Avesta,  con- 
sistently with  the  anti-polytheistic  tendency  of  the 
creed,  Vivanhvant  is  a  mere  mortal  man,  a  saintly 
priest,  the  first  who  offered  a  Haoma  sacrifice,  while 
his  son  Yima  is  also  a  mortal,  the  first  king,  the 
ruler  of  a  golden  age.^  But  if  the  father  has  lost 
ground  in  India,  the  son,  Yama,  fills  one  of  the 
most  prominent  and  picturesque  positions  in  the 
Vedic  pantheon,  as  the  king  of  the  dead,  the  mild 
ruler  of  an  Elysium-like  abode  where  the  shades  of 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  89-94. 

*  The  name,  which  means  "  the  Luminous,"  has  been  taken  to  indi- 
cate a  sun-god,  and  the  conclusion  is  borne  out  by  the  entire  Brah- 
mana-literature.     See  on  this  question,  however,  ch.  vii. 


1 82  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  PiTRlS  (the  departed  fathers  of  the  living,  an- 
swering the  Avestan  Fravashis),'  lead  a  happy, 
dreamy  existence. 

34.  The  bare  facts  are  these :  Yama  was  the  first 
to  die  and  we  all  follow  him  to  the  world  which  he 
was  the  first  to  enter,  and  where,  therefore,  he  as- 
sumed the  part  of  host,  receiving  those  that  joined 
him  as  they  came,  and  naturally  becoming  their  king 
and  ruler.  He  has  messengers  who  roam  the  world 
spying  out  those  who  are  to  die,  and  whom  they 
drive  or  escort  to  his  realm.  These  messengers, 
generally  two  in  number,  most  frequently  take  the 
shape  of  dogs  of  weird  and  fantastic  appearance, 
and  are  probably  meant  to  personify  the  morning 
and  evening  twilight — a  most  apt  poetical  image, 
since  it  can  certainly  be  said  that  each  morning 
and  evening  brings  some  recruits  from  the  living 
world  to  that  of  the  dead.  It  is  remarkable  that 
the  most  explicit  and  pithy  text  is  contained  in  the 
Atharva-Veda : 

"  Him  who  first  of  mortals  died,  who  first  went  to  that  world,  the 
gatherer  of  men — King  Yama,  son  of  Vivasvat,  honor  ye  with  an 
oblation." 

"  Death  is  Yama's  wise  messenger."  A  wonderful 
thought,  wonderfully  expressed,  which  we  also  find 
in  the  Atharva-Veda.  Birds  of  evil  omen  also,  are 
mentioned  in  the  Rig  as  Yama's  messengers,  and 
one  poet  prays  that  the  thing  which  such  a  bird  an- 
nounces with  its  cry  may  not  come  to  pass.  The 
dogs  are  called  SArameya  or  children  of  Sarama, 

'  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  83-84,  154. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 83 

and  described  as  spotted,  broad-snouted,  four-eyed, 
and  Yama  is  entreated  to  bid  them  protect  the 
guests  they  bring  him  on  the  road.' 

35.  The  world  over  which  Yama  rules  is  not  repul- 
sive, dark,  or  in  any  way  dread-inspiring,  being 
situated,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  highest  heaven,  in 
the  sphere  of  the  sun,  in  the  midst  of  radiant  worlds, 
and  no  idea  of  judgment  or  punishment  attaches  to 
it.  In  the  Rig-Veda  Yama  is  the  king  of  the  dead, 
not  as  yet  their  judge  and  chastiser.  That  came 
later,  and  in  the  Brahmanical  literature  of  the  clas- 
sical period  Yama  appears  stripped  of  all  gracious 
features  and  tricked  out  in  all  the  cheap  horrors  of 
the  vulgar  devil.  How  different  from  the  mild, 
benignant  deity,  to  whose  gentle  rule  the  earlier 
Aryan  Hindus  lovingly,  trustfully  committed  their 
departed  dear  ones  !  * 

36.  The  question  naturally  arises:  what  natural 
phenomenon  originally  was  disguised  under  the 
myth  of  Yama  Vaivasvata?  The  answer  as  natu- 
rally suggests  itself :  the  setting  sun,  for  that  is  one 
of  the  scenes  in  the  grand  drama  of  nature  which 
always  most  forcibly  suggested  the  belief  and  hope 
in  a  future  life."  And  in  the  poetical  language  of 
early  myth-makers,  bristling  with  bold  metaphor,  the 
setting  sun  can  very  well  be  said  to  be  the  child 
of  the  morning  sun  (Vivasvat).     But  then  it  is  by 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  93,  94  {Sagdtd  ceremony),  and  p. 
165  (the  dogs  guarding  the  Chinvat  Bridge). 

*  See,  for  details  and  texts,  ch.  ix..  Early  Culture,  in  connection 
with  the  Vedic  funeral  rites. 

^  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp.  337-339. 


1 84  VEDIC  INDIA. 

no  means  sure,  as  will  be  seen,'  that  Vivasvat  was 
always  the  sun,  and  quite  recently  a  school  of 
interpreters  has  arisen  who  would  identify  Yama, 
like  Soma,  with  the  Moon.*  It  cannot  be  denied 
that  the  arguments  they  bring  in  favor  of  this 
solution  carry  great  weight.  They  point  out, 
among  other  things,  that  the  "  seat  of  Yama  "  is 
avowedly  in  the  "  third  heaven,"  in  "  its  most  secret 
{i.  e.,  remotest)  place,"  and  that  the  setting  sun  can- 
not be  said  to  occupy  that  position  ;  that  the  moon 
easily  could  appear  to  the  unscientific  eye  of  the 
early  myth-makers  as  a  smaller,  younger  sun — the 
child  of  the  sun,  who  dies  (disappears)  after  running 
his  course ;  that  the  two,  with  the  inconsistency  so 
characteristic  of  myths,  which  delight  in  presenting 
the  same  divine  beings  under  different  aspects,  to 
place  them  in  different  mutual  relations,  might  just 
as  easily  have  appealed  to  the  imagination  as  twins 
— as  in  point  of  fact  they  Jiave  been  considered 
by  most  ancient  peoples,  and  that  the  very  name 
''Yama"  is  a  word  signifying  "twin."  Yama  is 
often  spoken  of  as  having  been  the  first  man,  the 
progenitor  of  the  human  race.  But  that  honor  be- 
longs to  another  son  of  Vivasvat — Manu  {i.  e.,  Man), 
and  was  mistakenly  transferred  to  Yama,  on  the 
strength  of  an  imperfect  argument,  namely,  that  he 
who  was  the  first  to  die  must  have  been  the  first  man 
who  lived.     But  Yama  is  nowhere  styled  "  the  first 

*  In  ch.  vii. 

*  A.  Hillebrandt  argues  the  point  at  great  length,  and  decides  it  in 
this  sense,  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Vedic  Mythology,  already  men- 
tioned. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  1 85 

of  men,"  only  "  the  first  oi  mortals.''  Now  the  word 
"  mortal  "  (martya)  is  very  frequently  used  to  denote 
"  man  "  ;  but  two  other  words — mamisJiya  and  jana 
occur  quite  as  frequently  ' ;  yet  neither  is  used  when 
Yama  is  spoken  of.  The  persistency  with  which  he 
is  called  the  first  of  martyas,  "  mortals,"  is  scarcely 
accidental.  Not  man  alone  is  m'ortal  in  the  concep- 
tion of  ancient  myth-making  peoples :  the  gods 
themselves  would  die  did  they  not  continually  renew 
their  life  and  vigor  by  draughts  of  the  divine  Soma, 
the  water  of  youth  and  immortality  ;  the  sun  dies 
when  it  sets,  or  faints  at  the  numbing  touch  of  win- 
ter ;  the  moon  dies  when,  after  waning  away  before 
our  eyes,  it  disappears.  True,  after  death  comes 
resurrection  ;  but  that  does  not  belong  here.  We 
must  be  content  with  establishing  the  fact  that 
Yama  is  invariably  styled  the  ''  first  of  mortals  who 
died,"  not  "  the  first  of  mortal  men." 

37.  Another  Vedic  deity  who  can  be  traced  with 
certainty  to  a  pre-Eranian  (or  Proto-Aryan)  past 
is  Vayu  or  Vata,  the  Wind.  Not  the  violent 
storm-wind,  but  the  wholesome,  cooling  breeze,  that 
clears  the  atmosphere,  purifies  the  air,  brings  health 
and  life  to  men  and  animals  prostrated  by  heat. 
Vayu  holds  a  modest  place  in  the  Rig- Veda.  Few 
hymns  are  addressed  to  him  alone,  but  he  is  fre- 
quently joined  with  other    gods,  and   always  men- 

'  It  is  impossible  not  to  admire  the  ingenious  and  pithy  names  by 
which  those  who  spoke  the  ancient  Sanskrit  tongue  designated  the 
human  race:  viai-tya,  "the  mortal";  vianushya,  "  the  thinking " 
(the  root  man  being  the  same  as  that  of  mens,  mind)  \  Jana,  "  the 
begotten,"  "  the  born  "  (same  root  as  in  gens,  genus,  _^f«erate,  etc.). 


1 86  VEDIC  INDIA. 

tioned  with  respect  and  gratitude.  He  Is  a  "  Son  of 
Heaven  "  (Dyaus),  and  not  only  is  he  invited  to  par- 
take of  the  Soma  Hbations,  but  when  he  comes  with 
other  gods,  the  first  drink  is  his  by  right.'  The  fol- 
lowing short  hymn  (X.,  i68)  shows  the  high  esteem 
in  which  this  unobtrusive  deity  was  held  and  how 
sensitively  alive  the  fancy  of  those  ancient  poets  was 
to  the  picturesque  and  the  mysterious — also  how  a 
thing  may  strike  in  the  same  way  spirits  separated 
by  ages  and  continents. 

"  I  celebrate  Vata's  great  chariot  :  it  comes  rending  the  air,  with 
noise  of  thunder.  It  touches  the  sky  as  it  goes  and  makes  it  ruddy, 
whirling  up  the  dust  on  the  earth. — The  flying  gusts  rush  after  it, — 
as  maidens  to  a  festival  .  .  .  . — As  he  flies  along  on  airy  paths,  Vata 
never  rests  on  any  day  ....  For  what  place  was  he  born  ?  and 
from  whence  came  he, — the  vital  breath  of  gods,  the  world's  great 
offspring  ?  The  god,  where'er  he  will,  moves  at  his  pleasure  ;  his 
rushing  sound  we  hear, — his  form  was  never  seen.^  ..." 

38.  With  this  god  we  close  the  cycle  of  Vedic  gods 
— Dyaus,  Varuna,  Mitra,  Agni,  Soma,  Yama,  Vayu 
— whom  we  can  trace  with  absolute  certainty  to  an 
Indo-Eranian  past  and  identify  with  corresponding 
divine  beings  in  the  Avesta.     Further  researches  no 

'  There  is,  in  one  of  the  Brahmanas,  a  story  invented  to  account 
for  this  privilege.  It  tells  how  several  gods  once  ran  a  race  for  the 
first  drink  of  Soma,  and  Vayu  (naturally  !)  won.  This  is  the  way  in 
which  the  Brahmanas  dispose  of  all  obscure  or  puzzling  points — by 
stories  made  up  to  explain  them.  The  result  is  generally  obscurity 
doubly  intensified,  confusion  inextricable,  often  sickening  absurdities, 
and  j^wt'times — gems  of  philosophy  and  poetry. 

2  "The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and  thou  hearest  the  sound 
thereof,  but  canst  not  tell  whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth." — 
St,  John,  iii.,  8. 


THE   OLDER   GODS.  18/ 

doubt  will  bring  to  light  more  affinities,  more  like- 
nesses,— as  indeed  not  a  few  have  already  been 
hinted  at.  But  suggestions,  conjectures,  can  find  no 
place  in  works  the  object  of  which  is  to  place  be- 
fore the  larger  public — the  uninitiated  laymen  of 
science — the  results  actually  achieved,  the  conquests 
that  may  be  considered  final.  The  divine  person- 
ages into  whose  exalted  circle  we  shall  now  step 
are  of  Indian  growth,  bear  the  unmistakable  im- 
press of  the  land  and  conditions  of  life  which  the 
migrating  Aryas  found  on  the  hither  side  of  the 
Himalaya  and  the  Indus. 


APPENDIX   TO   CHAPTER  V. 

THE    CHURNING    OF    THE    AMRITA. 

The  accompanying  illustration  represents  one  of 
the  most  famous  legends  told  in  the  Mahabharata 
and  some  of  the  Puranas,  and  is  a  good  specimen  of 
the  literalness  with  which  Indian  art  sets  to  work  to 
reproduce  the  details  of  a  mythical  story,  just  as 
the  legend  itself  is  a  fair  sample  of  what  the  learned 
Brahmanic  poetry  of  the  classic  or  epic  ages  made  of 
the  simple  and  transparent  myths  of  Vedic  times. 
We  have  just  admired  and  fully  explained  the  myth 
of  the  anirita,  the  food  of  the  gods,  of  which  the 
sacred  Soma-drink  is  the  earthly  imitation.  The 
Brahman  poets  amplified  it  into  a  story,  given  with 
varying  details  in  different  versions,  but  of  which  the 
main  features  are  the  following : 


1 88  VEDIC  INDIA. 

The  devas  were  at  war  with  the  asuras  (the  evil 
demons),  who  repeatedly  conquered  them,  so  that 
they  lost  heart,  and  were  fain  to  ask  the  assistance 
of  Vishnu,  the  god  to  whom  later  theology  ascribed 
the  mission  of  general  adviser  to  the  gods  and  pre- 
server to  them  and  the  created  worlds,  Vishnu 
promised  them  that  their  strength  should  be  restored 
if  they  would  do  as  he  would  direct.  First  they 
must  collect  specimens  of  all  the  plants  and  herbs 
that  grow  in  the  world  and  cast  them  into  the  Sea 
of  Milk,  then  they  must  churn  that  sea,  and  they 
would  thus  obtain  the  Amrita,  the  drink  of  strength 
and  immortality.  But  as  the  labor  would  be  very 
great,  he  advised  them  to  suspend  hostilities  with 
the  Asuras  and  invite  them  to  join  in  the  work: 
"  I  will  take  care,"  he  said,  "  your  foes  shall  share 
your  toil  but  not  partake  in  its  reward."  The 
Asuras  readily  took  the  bait  and  worked  with  all 
their  might.  When  the  herbs  were  thrown  in,  the 
mountain  Mandara  was  taken  for  a  churning  stick 
(pramantha)y  and  the  King  of  Serpents,  VAsUKl — 
others  say  Shesh  or  Sheshna — allowed  himself  to 
be  used  as  the  rope  to  twirl  the  stick.  So  all  pulled 
with  a  will,  the  devas  on  one  side,  the  Asuras  on  the 
other,  while  Vishnu  himself,  taking  the  form  of  a 
tortoise,  took  the  mountain  on  his  back  to  steady  it. 
Great  was  the  tumult  that  ensued.  The  milky 
waves  rose  and  tossed  and  foamed,  as  though  lashed 
by  a  mighty  storm.  Then  all  sorts  of  rare,  wonder- 
ful, and  useful  things  and  beings  began  to  emerge 
from  the  heaving  bosom  of  that  mysterious  deep. 
First  rose  from  them  the  sacred  Cow,  then  in  succes- 


17-  —  ihe  churning  of  the  amrita. 
(vishnu's  third  avatar  or  incarnation — the  "  kurma  "  or  tortoise 

avatar). 


i8g 


190 


VEDIC  INDIA, 


sion  the  divine  many-headed  horse,  the  elephant,  a 
troop  of  Apsaras  (water-maidens) ;  the  goddess  of 
beauty  appeared,  seated  on  a  lotus  blossom  ;  deadly 
poison  also  was  churned  out  of  the  waters;  Vasuki 
claimed  that  as  his  perquisite,  to  be  given  to  his  ser- 
pents. According  to  some  versions  the  four  Vedas 
also  came  out  of  that  memorable  churning.  But  on 
our  picture  they  seem  to  be  represented  as  one  of 
the  divine  beings  who  do  the  churning — as  a  person 
with  four  heads  and  four  arms,  with  a  book  in  one 
hand.  Last  of  all  came  forth  the  physician  of  the 
gods,  radiant,  triumphant,  bearing  aloft  the  cup  with 
the  precious  beverage.  Both  devasand  asuras  made 
a  rush  for  it  and  there  ensued  a  raging  battle.  But 
the  devas  had  managed  to  secure  the  first  draught, 
and  being  fully  invigorated  by  it,  had  no  difficulty 
in  beating  off  their  late  allies  and  hurling  them  into 
the  dark  abysses. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  RIG-VEDA:   THE   STORM-MYTH — THE   SUN-AND- 
DAWN    MYTH. 


1.  We  already  know  that  the  main,  most  vital 
fact  of  India's  physical  life,  that  on  which  it  hinges 
for  good  or  for  evil,  is  the  timely  arrival  and  benefi- 
cent violence  of  the  southwestern  monsoon,  or,  as 
the  unscientific  would  say,  the  spring  thunderstorms. 
This  is  what  may  be  poetically  termed  the  great 
atmospheric  drama,  with  its  incidents  of  war  and 
conquest,  its  armies  and  its  heroes.  Here  the 
imagination  of  the  old  Aryas  of  the  Seven  Rivers, 
with  their  characteristic  naturalistic  tendencies, 
revelled  unstinted.  Here,  in  the  Middle-Region — 
antdriksha — was  Cloudland,  which  men  watched  day 
by  day  as  the  familiar  but  never  palling  scenes  were 
enacted  over  and  over 'again,-^ where  Indra — the 
Thunderer — was  king,  and  the  Maruts — the  Storm- 
winds — were  his  friends  and  helpers ;  where  the 
clouds  were  sometimes  actors  and  sometimes 
scenery,  where  the  precious  Cows  were  fought  for, 
for  whose  milk  the  long-suffering  earth  hungers  and 
thirsts. 

2.  And  here  we  are  brought  to  the  root  of  that 

191 


192  VEDIC  INDIA. 

strange  and  apparently  ineradicable  superstition  of 
Aryan  India — the  sacredness  of  the  Cow.  It  has  been 
suggested  as  one  of  the  reasons,  that  the  cow  is  the 
distinctive  animal  of  Aryan  life.  For,  absolutely 
unfitted  by  nature  for  the  hardships  of  a  nomadic 
existence,  or  for  the  torrid  heat  of  the  open  steppe, 
it  needs  the  protection  of  forest  glades,  the  coolness 
of  streams,  the  rest  and  sweetness  of  meadows 
exactly  suiting  the  farming  stage  of  culture  which 
immediately  follows  on  the  nomadic  and  precedes  or 
co-exists  with  the  city-building  stage,'  since  its  wants 
and  the  care  it  demands  are  such  as  can  be  supplied 
only  under  favorable  and  settled  conditions  of  life, 
even  though  still  very  primitive.  And  in  that  stage 
— the  first  in  which  the  Aryan  race  appears  to  the 
historical  vision — we  can  scarcely  realize  what  a  won- 
derful, god-given,  all-sufficient  treasure  this  gentle, 
homely,  patient  companion  must  have  seemed  to  a 
people  broken  up  into  families  or  small  clans,  wholly 
dependent  each  on  its  own  dairy  and  patch  of  till- 
age. The  sweetest,  most  wholesome  of  foods  flowed 
from  her  udder,  easily  transformed  into  the  butter 
which,  melted  and  clarified,  fed  the  sacred  flame  on 
the  home-altar,  while  her  mate,  the  fiery  bullock, 
supplied  meat  for  the  burnt-ofTering,  or,  tamed  and 
trained,  became  the  obedient  laboring  steer.  There 
were  no  bounds  to  the  gratitude  and  reverence,  the 
loving  care  they  paid  this  living  embodiment  of  a 
kindly  providence,  until  they  came  to  consider  the 
cow  as  something  holy  and  half  divine.     It  became 

'  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  ch.  i.,   "  T^  Four  Stages  of  Culture," 
especially  pp.  123-125. 


THE  STORM-MYTH.  I93 

to  them  the  sacred  animal,  the  object  of  almost  wor- 
ship, which  it  remains  to  this  day  among  their 
descendants  in  India. 

3.  To  this  sacredness,  founded  on  such  homely, 
positive  grounds,  a  more  imaginative  reverence  was 
added  by  the  active  poetical  fancy  which  filled  the 
world  with  the  mythical  creations  that  were  to  beg- 
gar the  invention  of  all  coming  ages.  The  real,  live, 
earthly  cow  had  her  glorified  double  in  the  heavens, 
or,  rather,  the  Middle-Region,  antdriksJia ;  there 
roam  the  herds  of  dark,  light,  or  dappled  cloud-kine, 
whose  udder  pours  down  their  pure  sweet  milk, 
the  rain,  in  life-giving  showers,  for  men  and  animals, 
and  plants.  And,  as  though  to  show  how  in- 
timate the  connection  between  the  two,  they  both — 
the  cloud  and  the  cow — have  the  same  name — Go, — 
and  that  again  is  a  root  expressive  of  motion,  walk- 
ing. The  clouds  moving  across  the  sky  may  first 
have  suggested  a  likeness  to  kine  moving  across  the 
pasture  ;  with  a  little  observation  the  comparison 
completed  itself.  The  heavenly  pastures  and  the 
heavenly  herds,  and,  consequently,  the  gods  as 
heavenly  herdsmen,  just  as  the  heavenly  ocean  with 
the  cloud-ships,  are  standing  mythical  images,  on 
which  the  poetry  of  all  times  has  rung  endless 
changes.  In  fact,  the  most  cursory  perusal  of  the 
Rig-Veda  places  the  Middle-Region  before  us  as  a 
sort  of  mirror-world,  showing  an  exact  reflection,  only 
magnified  and  glorified,  of  this  lower  world,  with  all 
its  doings,  relations,  and  conditions.  This  applies 
to  all  the  incidents  of  what  may  be  called  the  atmos- 
pheric drama,  a  perfect  counterpart  of  the  wars  or 

13  > 


H 


194  VEDIC  INDIA. 

perhaps  rather  the  tribal  raids  of  earth,  and  which, 
Hke  the  latter,  takes  the  homely  form  of  a  conflict 
for  the  possession  of  cattle,  or  of  women  and  maid- 
ens, these  being  the  two  staple  articles  of  intertribal 
booty,  the  standing  objects  of  mutual  covetousness 
and  clan  feuds. 

■\\"  The  phenomena  of  thunder  and  lightning,"  remarks  Mr.  Muir  in 
is  study  on  Indra,  "  almost  inevitably  suggest  the  idea  of  a  con- 
flict between  opposing  forces  ;  even  we  ourselves,  in  our  more  pro- 
saic age,  often  speak  of  the  war  or  strife  of  the  elements.  The  other 
appearances  of  the  sky,  too,  would  afford  abundant  materials  for 
poetical  imagery.  The  worshipper  would  at  one  time  transform  the  fan- 
tastic shapes  of  the  clouds  into  the  chariots  and  horses  of  his  god,  and 
at  another  time  would  seem  to  perceive  in  their  piled-up  masses  the 
cities  and  castles  which  he  was  advancing  to  overthrow."  * 

Or  mountains.'  There  is  nothing  a  solid  dark 
bank  of  clouds,  with  its  broken  outlines  against  the 
horizon,  more  resembles,  and  many  a  mariner  long- 
ingly looking  out  for  land  has  been  deceived  by  this 
mirage  of  the  sea.  These  castles,  these  mountains 
with  their  deep,  dark  caves,  are  the  fastnesses 
wherein  wicked   robbers    hide  the    stolen   cows  or 

'  Muir's  Original  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.,  p.  98. 

'  Pdrvata  (from  a  root  meaning  "  to  swell  ")  means  both  "  cloud  " 
and  "mountain";  so  ^^ pur"  means  "fortress"  and  "cloud." 
Vedic  Sanskrit  has  many  more  such  homonyms,  which,  while  strongly 
impressing  us  with  the  nearness  to  nature  of  the  old  poets  and  their 
fine  sense  of  the  picturesque  resemblances  between  earth-land  and 
cloud-land,  have  for  us  moderns  the  disadvantage  that  they  actually 
blur  the  line  between  the  two,  and  frequently  render  it  almost  im- 
possible to  make  out  whether  a  given  incident — such  as  storming  of 
fortresses,  hurling  enemies  down  mountains  and  the  like — is  to  be 
taken  in  a  mythical  or  historical  sense.  They  seem  to  us  to  have 
lived  in  both  worlds  and  scarcely  themselves  to  have  known  one  from 
the  other. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  I95 

maidens,  over  whom  the  dragon  cloud-fiend,  Ahi,  the 
Serpent,  who  loves  to  lie  on  the  top  of  mountains, 
and  the  shaggy  monster,  Vritra,  the  Enfolder,  keep 
watch,  until  the  Thunderer's  lightning  spear  pierces 
and  tears  them  to  pieces,  while  the  castle  walls  or 
mountain  sides  burst  open  under  the  resonant  blows 
of  his  fiery  mace,  and  the  captives  come  fortth^i? 
**  For  "  (if  we  may  be  permitted  to  quote  from  a 
former  volume  of  our  own)  "  there  are  clouds  and 
clouds,  and  not  all  by  any  means  bode  or  bring  rain. 
If  some  generously  pour  down  the  precious,  pure 
liquid  which  is  life  and  drink  to  the  parched,  pining 
earth,  others  keep  it  back,  wickedly  hide  it,  swell 
and  spread  with  the  treasure  they  cover  and  enclose, 
and  will  not  give  it  up  until  pierced  and  torn  asunder 
by  the  lightning  spear  of  the  angry  thunder-god." ' 
And  those  whose  ill-fortune  it  has  been  to  live 
through  a  genuine  drought  in  a  semi-tropical  clime, 
will  heartily  endorse  the  remark  that  nothing  can  be 
more  disheartening,  when  every  breathing  and  grow- 
ing thing,  nay,  the  inanimate  soil  itself,  with  its  gray, 
dusty,  rifted  surface,  is  panting  and  gaping  for  rain 
to  bring  moisture  and  coolness,  than  to  see  the  clouds 
collecting  and  floating  across  the  sky  day  after  day 
without  discharging  their  contents." 

*  See  Story  of  Afedia,  Babylon,  and  Persia,  pp.  44-47. 

'^  See  Muir,  vol.  v.,  p.  98.  The  author's  personal  experience  in- 
cludes several  "  dry  spells"  in  Central  Italy,  and  areal,  unmitigated 
two  years'  drought  in  Texas — the  most  terrible  in  fifty-nine  years. 
Aggravating  as  the  relentless  blue  sky  was  on  the  former  occasions, 
it  was  nothing  to  the  exasperation  of  gazing  daily  on  a  cloudy,  some- 
times an  overcast,  sky,  knowing  that  not  a  drop  would  fall  from  it. 
The  feeling  was  distinctly  one  of  animosity  against  some  invisible, 
but  sentient  and  malicious  power. 


196  VEDIC  INDIA. 

And  now  that  we  clearly  understand  what  may  be 
called  the  plot  of  the  drama — very  simple  and  in 
substance  always  the  same — we  may  introduce  the 
actors  and  let  the  various  scenes  unfold  themselves, 
keeping,  as  we  did  in  the  preceding  chapter,  to  the 
only  really  forcible  and  impressive  method  :  that  of 
letting  the  ancient  poets  speak,  i.  e.,  quoting  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  Rig-Veda  itself. 

4.  It  is  generally  understood  that  Vedic  worship 
knew  of  no  temples  or  images  of  its  gods,  and  this 
must  of  course  apply  to  Indra,  the  king  of  the  Mid- 
dle-Region— him  who  may  well  be  termed  the 
champion-god  of  Aryan  India.'  Yet  one  is  almost 
tempted  to  doubt  the  fact  in  his  case  and  that  of 
his  faithful  comrades  and  escort  the  Maruts — the 
Storm-Winds" — who  ride  forth  to  battle  with  him,  an 
eager,  rushing  troop — so  realistic  and  complete  are 
the  descriptions  of  their  personal  appearance, 
strength,  and  warlike  equipment,  down  to  the  small- 
est details.  Indra  is  shown  us  borne  on  a  shining 
chariot,  a  golden  whip  in  his  hand,  the  thunderbolt 
in  his  arm,  helmeted  with  gold,  and  not  only  are  his 
long,  strong  arms  spoken  of,  and  the  beauty  of  his 
nose  and   ruddy  cheeks,  but  we  are  told  how  his 

'  This  name  has  been  the  theme  of  much  and  vigorous  philological 
discussion.  The  most  convincing  explanation,  because  the  simplest 
and  most  pertinent,  is  that  which  connects  it  with  the  root  ind — 
"  sap,  drop," — a  root  which  we  find  again  in  Sindhu-Indus("  river") 
It  is  very  plain  that  "  India  "  is  the  land  of  Indra  and  the  Indus. 

'Literally  "the  Smashers,"  "Grinders,"  as  this  is  one  of  the 
meanings  contained  in  that  extremely  serviceable  and  prolific  root 
MAK. — See  Max  Miiller's  Science  of  Language,  Second  Series,  pp. 
332^.  (New  York  Edition,  Scribner,  1875), 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  1 97 

golden  beard  is  violently  agitated  by  the  swift 
motion,  as  he  guides  his  mettlesome  steeds  and  hurls 
his  bolts  around.  Again  the  Maruts.  Not  much  is 
left  to  the  imagination  when  they  are  presented  to 
us  as  driving  chariots  borne  along  with  the  fury  of 
boisterous  winds  by  their  swift  tawny  horses  or 
dappled  deer,  and  described  as  follows  : 

"  Spears  rest  upon  your  shoulders  ;  ye  have  anklets  on  your  feet, 
golden  ornaments  on  your  breasts,  ornaments  on  your  ears,  fiery 
lightnings  in  your  hands,  and  golden  helmets  on  your  heads." 

Together  with  Indra  they  are  bidden  by  Agni,  the 
priest-messenger,  to  the  sacrificer's  banquet ;  together 
they  quaff  huge  quantities  of  the  invigorating  soma, 
and  together  rush  to  do  battle  against  Vritra,  whom 
they  helped  Indra  to  overcome,  to  pierce  through 
and  through,  to  cut  to  pieces,  till  his  remains  strew 
the  mountain  side,  and  the  waters  which  he  impris- 
oned leap  merrily  forth,  and  roll  and  tumble  and 
pour  down  on  both  worlds.  Brush  and  color  could 
hardly  give  a  more  vivid  picture — and  for  that 
picture  Indian  warrior  kings  and  their  gorgeously 
arrayed  body-guards  have  surely  sat.  It  is  anthro- 
pomorphism running  riot.  The  question  is  not :  how 
did  the  hero  of  the  Middle-Region  become  the  war- 
god  of  men,  the  champion  and  protector  of  his  Aryan 
and  native  worshippers  ?  but :  how  could  he  have 
helped  becoming  both  ? 

5.  Anthropomorphism,  however,  seldoms  keeps 
long  within  such  sober  bounds — certainly  not  in 
India.  In  its  tendency  to  bring  the  superhuman 
within  the    mind's    ken,   by    clothing    it    in   human. 


198  VEDIC  INDIA. 

familiar  garb,  it  but  too  easily  slips  into  exaggera- 
tion, and,  in  exalting  the  object  of  worship,  is  apt  to 
represent  greatness  by  material  size.  Scarcely  any 
of  the  Indra  hymns,  which  are  more  numerous  than 
those  to  any  other  deity,  are  free  from  this  taint  of 
fancy,  or  rather  weakness  of  expression,  to  which, 
however,  together  with  some  images  of  the  most 
grotesque  grossness,  we  owe  some  of  great  poetical 
beauty.  Let  us  pick  out  a  few  at  random,  as  they 
occur  scattered  through  the  hymns. 

6.  Nothing  is  more  frequently  impressed  on  the 
worshipper  than  Indra's  physical  immensity  and 
strength.  He  is  "  so  superior  to  men,  heaven  and 
earth  do  not  suffice  for  his  girdle,"  and  "  when  he 
grasps  the  two  boundless  worlds,  they  are  but  a 
handful  to  him."  "  He  contains  all  that  exists  as  the 
tire  of  a  wheel  contains  the  spokes  "  ;  indeed,  "  as 
the  axle  passes  both  wheels,  so  his  greatness  sur- 
passes both  worlds  "  ;  but,  "not  a  hundred  heavens 
and  a  hundred  earths,  with  a  thousand  suns — no, 
not  all  created  worlds  could  contain  himr  Rut  it 
is  Indra's  soma-drinking  capacities  which  inspire  the 
poets  with  the  most  extravagant  absurdities  ;  he  is 
said  to  drink  it  in  pailfuls — tubfuls — thirty  lakes 
at  a  sitting;  he  is  invited  to  drink  freely,  like  a 
thirsty  stag,  or  a  bull  roaming  in  a  waterless  waste. 
The  acme  is  reached  when  he  is  credited  with  two 
bellies,  which  are  compared  to  two  lakes,  and  which 
he  is  requested  to  fill — which  he  does  with  a  will, 
if  we  are  to  believe  the  translator  who  reads  a  cer- 
tain verse  as  saying  that  Indra  cannot  wait  for  the 
soma  to  be  drawn  for  him,  but  gulps  down  cask,  fau- 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  1 99 

cet,  and  all';  it  is  doubtless  after  an  exploit  of  the 
kind  that  he  is  admiringly  described  as  staggering 
about  at  the  sacrificial  feast,  tottering  like  a  boat  on 
the  waters — "  soma  in  his  belly,  great  might  in  his 
body,  wisdom  in  his  head,  and  lightning  in  his 
hand."  It  is  in  this  "  exhilarated  "  condition  that  the 
hero-god  performs  his  most  notable  deeds  and  most 
brilliantly  earns  his  highest  title,  that  of  VritrA- 
HAN — "  Slayer  of  Vritra,"  the  cloud-demon  of 
Drought.  The  same  idea  re-appears  in  a  spiritual- 
ized form  in  the  hymns  in  which  Soma  the  god  is 
invoked  jointly  with  Indra  and  both  are  besought 
for  help  against  fiends  or  earthly  foes,  when  they 
impartially  share  the  credit  and  praise.  In  one  place 
Soma  is  called  "the  soul  of  Indra." 

7.  As  the  god  of  war  on  earth  between  men  and 
men,  Indra  is  not  merely  the  Aryas'  champion  and 
helper  in  single  battles,  he  is  the  leader  of  the  Aryan 
eastward  movement  generally  ;  it  is  he  who  guides 
them  from  the  Indus  to  the  Yamuna,  and  makes 
their  path  one  of  conquest :  "  Look  forward  for  us, 
O  Indra,  as  a  leader,  and  guide  us  onward  towards 
greater  riches.  Take  us  safely  across,  lead  us  wisely 
and  in  safety."  Nothing  could  mean  more  clearly : 
pushing  eastward,  crossing  rivers,  dislodging  dasyu&. 

8.  It  must  be  admitted  that  the  goods  which  the 
Arya  pleads  for  to  Indra  are  always  of  the  most  ma- 
terial kind.  When  it  is  not  rain  or  the  dispersion  of 
darkness,  it  is  cows,  horses,  many  sons  healthy  and 
strong,  gold  and  riches  of  every  kind,  victory  in  war, 
and  "  the  riches  of  the  enemies."     He  is  essentially 

'  Mr.  E.  D.  Perry  of  Columbia  College. 


200  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  creation  of  a  rushing,  active,  coveting  time — a 
"storm  and  stress  "  period, — and  his  personaHty  has 
none  of  the  spiritual  charm  which  radiates  from  such 
contemplative  conceptions  as  Varuna  or  Aditi,  or 
the  philosophical  play  of  fancy  which  makes  the 
elusive  forms  of  Agni  and  Soma  so  truly  divine. 
Still,  there  is  something  very  touching  and  tender  in 
the  confiding  familiarity  with  which  he  is  addressed 
in  some  few  passages,  as  in  the  following: 

"  Come,  O  Indra,  brother.  .  .  .  Here  thy  friends  have  lived 
from  oldest  time  ;  look  now  on  thy  later  friends,  and  the  youngest. 
.  .  .  For  thou  wast  our  fathers'  friend  of  old  and  willingly  didst 
grant  them  their  wishes.  .  .  .  We  call  on  thee,  who  dost  not 
make  thy  ear  deaf  to  our  voice,  but  hearest  us  from  afar.  ,  .  . 
For  thou,  O  gracious  one,  hast  always  been  both  father  and  mother 
to  us     .     .     .     the  most  fatherly  of  fathers. 

"  The  old  songs  hasten  to  thee  ever  anew  .  .  .  like  harnessed 
steeds,  like  kine  that  lick  their  young  calves,  like  wives  that  fondle 
and  cling  to  the  stateliest  of  husbands.  .  .  .  O  stay,  go  not  from 
us,  thou  mighty  one,  when  I  offer  thee  the  well-pressed  soma.  I  take 
hold  of  thy  robe,  as  a  son  of  his  father's  robe,  with  my  song.    ..." 

9.  If  we  believe  his  worshippers,  Indra  certainly 
is  not  insensible  to  so  much  love  and  trust.  The 
hymns  abound  in  lists  of  the  things  he  does  for 
them  and  gives  them  :  he  threshes  their  foes  as  corn- 
sheaves  on  the  threshing-floor;  he  comes  to  his 
friends  with  both  hands  full  of  riches,  and  benefits 
shoot  from  him  as  boughs  from  a  tree — and  he  is 
asked  to  shower  down  w^ealth  on  his  worshippers  as 
the  hook  shakes  the  ripe  fruit  from  the  tree.  .  .  . 
He  is  the  helper  of  the  poor — the  deliverer  and  the 
comforter — a  wall  of  defence — his  friendship  is  inde- 
structible— it  is  no  idle  phrase  when  one  poet  ex- 
claims: "  We  are  thine  and  thou  art  ours  !    .     .     ." 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  20I 

"  The  days  dawn  prosperously  for  him  who  says : 
Come,  let  us  press  the  soma  for  I ndra !  .  .  .  That 
king's  power  is  never  shaken  in  whose  house  Indra 
drinks  strong  soma  mixed  with  milk ;  he  flourishes 
in  peace,  conquers  in  war,  and  dwells  securely  at 
home,  enjoying  high  renown."  It  is  but  just  to  say 
that  Indra  is  very  exclusive  in  his  friendships,  and 
"  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  wretch  who  does 
not  press  the  soma" — /.  e.,  with  such  native  peoples 
as  have  not  become  converted  to  the  Aryan  faith. 

lO.  That  one  whose  favors  were  so  very  substan- 
tial, and  who  was  so  lavish  of  them,  should  be  the 
object  of  selfish  and  envious  solicitations,  is  but 
natural.  Many  are  the  passages  in  which  Indra  is 
warned  against  rival  petitioners,  with  a  naive  direct- 
ness which  is  highly  amusing,  for  instance: 

"  I  will  harness  the  bays  to  Indra's  chariot  and  draw  him  down  by 
a  new  song.  Do  not  let  other  hymn-singers — and  there  are  many — 
turn  thee  from  thy  way." — (II.,  i8,  3.) 

"  Speed  thee  hither,  Indra,  with  thy  mettlesome  bays  ;  let  no  one 
snare  thee,  like  a  bird  in  a  net,  but  drive  straight  on,  as  through  a 
flat  country." — (III.,  45,  i.) 

No  less  amusing  are  the  remonstrances,  nay, 
downright  upbraidings,  with  which  one  or  other  wor- 
shipper does  not  fear  to  assail  his  favorite  god  if  he 
thinks  himself  slighted  or  inadequately  remembered  : 

"  Gracious  are  thy  hands,  O  Indra,  and  beneficent  when  they  be- 
stow gifts  on  the  singer.  Where  tarriest  thou  ?  Why  hastest  thou 
not  to  the  drinking-bout  ?     Or  art  thou  disinclined  to  give  ?  " — (IV., 

29.  9-) 

"Why  do  men  call  thee  generous,  thou  wealthy  one?  A  giver 
thou  art,  so  I  hear :  then  give  to  me.  Let  my  hymn  be  blest  with 
treasure,  O  mighty  one,     .     .     ." — (X.,  42,  3.) 


202  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Most  characteristic  of  all  in  the  way  of  chiding  is 
the  following,  though  there  is  no  lack  of  separate 
passages  where  the  god  is  called  "  stingy,"  and 
"  tardy,"  and  "  grudging  "  : 

"  Had  I,  O  Indra,  so  much  wealth  as  thou  possessest,  I  should 
freely  give  to  my  worshipper,  thou  source  of  wealth  ;  I  should  not 
leave  him  in  poverty. — I  would  lavish  riches  on  him  day  by  day, 
wherever  he  might  be  ;  for  nothing  is  more  valuable  to  us  than  thou 
art — not  kindred,  not  even  a  father," — (VII., 42,  18-19.) 

Or  this: 

"  Were  all  the  riches  mine,  O  Indra,  which  thou  ownest,  my  poet 
should  be  wealthy. — I  would  help  him,  bless  him  with  gifts,  O  Lord 
of  Might,  were  I  the  Lord  of  Kine.  .  .  .  For  no  god  nor  mortal 
can  hinder  thy  liberality,  O  Indra,  when  it  is  thy  will  to  give." — 
(VIIL,  14,  I,  2,  4.) 

II.  When  scholars  tell  us  that  Indra  is  a 
creation  of  a  later  and  different  epoch  from 
that  of  the  old  sky-gods  Dyaus  and  Varuna,  a 
growth,  moreover,  of  India's  own  soil — (it  were  per- 
haps more  correct  to  say  Penjab's) — they  by  no 
means  rest  their  assertion  on  mere  circumstantial 
evidence.  There  is,  in  the  Rig-Veda  itself,  ample 
evidence  of  the  impetuous  Storm-  and  War-god 
having  supplanted  the  two  great  Asuras,  and  that  by 
no  means  peaceably,  without  strife  and  bitterness 
dividing  the  followers  of  the  new  worship  and  the 
old — until  the  latter  were  carried  away  by  the  tide  of 
the  times  and  public  feeling.  If  the  interpretation 
of  scattered  single  lines  or  expressions  might  still 
leave  room  for  doubt,  the  following  entire  hymn 
(IV.,  42)  does  not.  Nothing  could  be  more  explicit. , 
It  is  in  the  dramatic  form  of  a  dialogue :  each  god 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  203 

speaks  for  himself,  and  the  poet   decides   between 
their  rival  claims. 

"(  Vdruna  speaks) :  I  am  the  King  :  mine  is  the  lordship.  All  the 
gods  are  subject  to  me,  the  universal  life-giver,  and  follow  Varuna's 
ordinances  ;  I  rule  in  men's  highest  sanctuary. — I  am  King  Vdruna; 
my  own  are  these  primeval  heavenly  powers.  .  .  .  — I,  O  Indra, 
am  Varuna,  and  mine  are  the  two  wide,  deep,  blessed  worlds.  A 
wise  maker,  I  created  all  the  beings  ;  Heaven  and  Earth  are  by  me 
preserved.  —I  made  the  flowing  waters  to  swell  ;  I  established  in.  their 
sacred  seat  the  heavens  ;  I,  tlie  holy  Aditya,  spread  out  the  tri- 
partite (or  threefold)  universe."     (Heaven,  Earth,  and  Atmosphere.) 

"  {/>n/ra  speaks) :  I  am  invoked  by  the  steed-possessing  men,  when 
pressed  hard  in  battle ;  I  am  the  mighty  one  who  stirs  up  the  fight 
and  whirls  up  the  dust,  in  my  overwhelming  strength.  All  that  have 
I  done,  nor  can  the  might  of  all  the  gods  restrain  me,  the  Uncon- 
quered  ;  when  I  am  exhilarated  by  libations  and  prayers,  then  quake 
both  boundless  worlds." 

"  (  The  priest  speaks) :  That  thou  didst  all  these  things,  all  beings 
know  ;  and  now  thou  hast  proclaimed  it  to  Varuna,  O  Ruler  !  Thee, 
Indra,  men  praise  as  the  slayer  of  Vritra  ;  it  was  thou  who  didst  let 
loose  the  imprisoned  waters." 

12.  There  is  another  hymn— a  much  later  one,  as 
shown  by  the  far  abstruser  tone  and  more  elaborate 
diction  (X.,  124) — which  tells  (or  commemorates)  the 
same  story.  There  the  poet  summons  Agni  out  of 
the  darkness  to  conduct  the  sacrifice.  The  divine 
Jiotar  then  announces  that  he  is  loth  to  forsake  an 
old  friend  and  go  among  strangers,  but  that  he  "  has 
long  observed  the  guest  of  the  other  party,"  has 
travelled  through  many  places,  and  he  concludes: 

"  I  now  say  farewell  to  the  Father,  the  Asura  ;  I  go  from  him  to 
whom  no  sacrifices  are  offered  to  him  to  whom  men  sacrifice. — In 
choosing  Indra,  I  give  up  the  Father,  though  I  have  lived  with  him 
many  years  in  friendship.  Agni,  Varuna,  and  Soma  must  give  way  ; 
the  power  goes  to  another,  I  see  it  come." 


204  VEDIC  INDIA. 

13.  Indra  clearly  was  the  god  for  a  struggling, 
conquering,  unscrupulously  pushing  people,  rather 
than  the  great  Aditya — majestic,  serene,  and  just. 
In  what  way  the  supremacy  was,  so  to  speak,  offi- 
cially transferred  to  him,  there  is  nothing  to  inform 
us.  There  is  quite  a  number  of  passages,  even  of 
whole  hymns,  full  of  allusions  to  Indra's  birth,  child- 
hood, early  exploits,  and  the  like.  But  the  wording 
is  so  obscure,  most  of  the  things  alluded  to  are  so 
utterly  unknown  to  us,  that  nothing  coherent  or 
satisfactory  can  be  made  out  of  all  these  texts. 
Heaven  and  earth  are  said  to  quake  with  fear  before 
his  anger  at  his  birth.  His  mother  (who  is  she?) 
seems  to  die  almost  as  soon  as  he  is  born ;  then  he 
is  said  to  have  taken  his  father  by  the  foot  and 
hurled  him  down.  There  are  also  hints  of  conspir- 
acy to  kill  him  in  his  sleep  or  on  his  wanderings, 
and  he  himself  is  made  to  say  :  "  Pressed  hard  by 
hunger,  I  cooked  dogs'  entrails ;  I  found  no  god 
who  would  take  pity  on  me  ;  I  saw  my  wife  deeply 
bowed  with  grief ;  then  the  eagle  brought  me  sweet 
Soma."  *  It  would  be  vain  to  try  to  piece  a  consist- 
ent story  out  of  these  shreds :  for  there  are  plenty 
of  other  lines,  even  in  the  same  hymn,  which  point 
to  different  versions  of  the  same  events.  All  that 
we  can  gather  from  the  above  quotations,  and  other 
passages,  is  the  plain  allusion  (in  mythical  language) 
to  the  antagonism  and  persecution  of  which  he  is  the 
object,  on  the  part  of  the  other  gods,  i.  e.,  the  fol- 
lowers of  the  older  gods. 

14.  Neither  do  we  know  when  or  how  the  feud 

'  See  for  more  on  this  subject,  ch.  vii. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  20% 

between  "  the  gods "  was  laid.  But  certain  it  is 
that  harmony  was  restored  at  some  time,  for  we 
meet  with  numerous  hymns  addressed  to  Indra  and 
Vdruna  jointly  ;  they  peacefully  share  at  last  the 
government  of  the  world,  each  in  his  own  line.  This 
is  expressly  intimated  in  a  text :  "  The  one  [Indra] 
loves  to  slay  foes,  the  other  [Varuna]  always  main- 
tains his  ordinances."  Indra  is  also  frequently 
addressed  jointly  with  several  of  the  greater  gods — 
with  Agni,  Soma,  Vayu,  and  others.  Vayu  and 
Agni,  indeed,  became  in  the  course  of  time  most 
closely  associated  with  him — till,  at  the  later  period 
of  Brahmanic  theology,  the  three — Rain,  Fire,  and 
Wind — formed  a  sort  of  mystic  trinity  or  triad. 

15.  The  personality  of  Indra,  though  sufificiently 
transparent,  still  has  enough  of  complexity  in  its 
duality  (Storm-god  and  War-god)  to  suggest  evolu- 
tion from  simpler  material,  from  a  more  directly 
naturalistic  conception.  We  shall  hardly  go  wrong 
if  we  seek  the  latter  in  Parjanya,  the  Storm-god 
pure  and  simple,  originally  neither  more  nor  less  than 
the  rain-cloud  or  the  thunder-cloud  itself,  for  par- 
janya is  frequently  used  in  the  Rig-Veda  as  a 
common  noun  for  cloud.^  Of  several  texts,  one  is 
absolutely  decisive :  "  Even  during  the  day  the 
Maruts  shed  darkness  by  the  water-bringing  par- 
janya!'    Now  nothing  but  a  cloud  can  shed  dark- 

'  The  word  is  said  to  come  from  the  same  root  z.%  pdrvata — cloud 
and  mountain.  This  god  has  a  special  interest  for  us  moderns,  be- 
cause he  remained  the  highest  god  of  a  large  branch  of  the  Aryan 
race — the  Slavo-Lithuanian,  who  still  worshipped  him  for  many  cen- 
turies after  Christ,  under  the  scarcely  altered  name  of  Perkunas  = 
Perkons  =  Perun. 


2o6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ness  during  the  day.  Agni  is  asked  to  "send  the 
rain-bringing /rt^r/'i^/z/rt:  hither";  then  the  phiral  is 
used :  "  the  parjanyd  [clouds]  bring  joy  to  the 
earth."  But  these  are  isolated  survivals.  The 
Rain-and-Storm  god  (for  India  knows  little  of  our 
quiet  rains)  is  almost  always  separated  from  the 
cloud,  which  is  sometimes  his  chariot,  sometimes  the 
barrel  or  skin  filled  with  the  water  which  he  pours 
down  on  the  worlds ;  then  he  is  the  "  Son  of 
Heaven,"  who  "speaks  a  gleam-accompanied,  re- 
sounding word  which  brings  refreshment." 

16.  Parjanya  has  one  peculiar  feature  :  he  pours 
the  seed  on  the  earth  ;  it  enters  the  plants  and 
there  becomes  the  germ.  His  name  is  hardly  ever 
mentioned  without  some  allusion  being  made  to  this 
important  duty  of  his,  and  he  is  in  consequence 
directly  invoked  as  the  special  guardian  of  plants : 
"  Parjanya,  who  brings  us  food  through  the  plants." 
Does  not  this  forcibly  remind  us  of  that  curious 
Old-Eranian  belief  that  the  seeds  of  all  plants  were 
carried  down  to  earth  by  the  rain  ? ' 

17.  From  all  this  it  will  be  seen  that  Parjanya  very 
possibly  goes  back  to  the  oldest  Aryan  period,  and 
might  fairly  claim  a  place,  in  Aryan  India,  among 
the  "  Older  gods,"  the  subject-matter  of  our  pre- 
ceding chapter.  But,  with  every  presumption  in 
favor  of  the  suggestion,  which  great  scholars  en- 
dorse,^ the  link  is  broken,  direct  proof  is  wanting,  no 

*  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  p.  65. 

^  See  especially  the  two  exhaustive  papers  by  Geo.  Biihler,  in  the 
Transactions  of  the  London  Philological  Society,  1859,  pp.  154  ff. 
(English),  and  in  Benfey's  Orient  and  Occident,  vol.  i.,  pp.  2ii\ff. 


THE   STORM-MYTIT.  20/ 

corresponding  name  being  found  in  Indo-Eranian 
antiquity.  One  thing  is  sure :  that  Indra  and  Par- 
janya  are  distinct  mythical  persons,  not  convertible 
quantities.  We  have  a  text  which  says  expressly : 
"  Great  Indra,  who  is  like  to  Parjanya  in  power." 
It  is  extremely  probable  that  at  one  time  they  were, 
so  to  speak,  parallel  gods,  i.  e.,  that  two  different 
Aryan  tribes  worshipped  the  Storm-and-Rain  god 
under  these  two  different  names,  with  some  differ- 
ences also  in  their  functions;  that  Indra  happened 
to  be  the  god  of  the  more  pushing,  warlike  tribes, 
and  thus  early  developed  into  the  champion  of 
Aryan  conquest,  and  by  his  growing  popularity 
quickly  eclipsed  his  former  brother. 

1 8.  Among  the  five  or  six  hymns  to  Parjanya, 
there  is  one — V.,  83 — which  is  one  of  the  very  few 
Vedic  pieces  of  complete  and  faultless  poetical 
beauty,  without  anticlimaxes  or  any  of  the  puerilities 
or  vulgarities  which  so  often  leave  us  disappointed 
with  otherwise  fine  effusions  : 

"  I.  Sing  unto  the  strong  with  these  songs,  laud  Parjanya,  with 
praise  worship  him.  Loud  bellows  the  Bull  ;  he  lays  down  the  seed 
and  fruit  in  the  herbs. — 2.  He  cleaves  the  trees  asunder,  he  slays 
the  Rakshasas  ;  all  living  creatures  fear  the  wearer  of  the  mighty 
bolt.  Even  the  sinless  trembles  before  him,  the  giver  of  rain,  for 
Parjanya,  thundering,  slays  the  evil-doers. — 3.  As  a  driver  who 
urges  his  horses  with  his  whip,  he  makes  the  rainy  messengers 
appear.  From  far  arises  the  roar  of  the  lion  when  Parjanya 
makes  the  cloud  full  of  rain. — 4.  The  winds  rage,  the  lightnings 
shoot  through  the  air,  the  herbs  sprout  forth  from  the  ground,  the 

(German).  One  of  the  greatest  contemporary  Vedic  scholars,  Lud- 
wig,  on  the  other  hand,  specially  identifies  Parjanya  with  the 
spring  monsoon.  If  so,  he  might  very  well  be  of  Indian  growth, 
yet  older  than  Indra. 


208  VEDIC  INDIA. 

heavens  overflow,  refreshment  is  borne  to  all  creatures  when  Par- 
janya  blesses  the  earth  with  rain.— 5.  Thou,  Parjanya,  shield  us 
well,  by  whose  doing  the  earth  is  shaken,  by  whose  doing  the  hoofed 
herd  is  supported,  by  whose  doing  herbs  of  all  kinds  sprout  forth. 
— 6.  .  .  .  Oh  come  to  us  with  the  thunder-cloud,  pouring  down 
the  waters,  Asura,  our  father. — 7.  Roar,  thunder,  give  fruit,  fly 
round  us  with  thy  chariot  that  is  filled  with  water.  Pull  strongly  the 
downward-bent,  well-fastened  water-skin  ;  may  the  heights  and  the 
valleys  be  made  even. — 8.  Lift  up  the  great  barrel,  pour  down  ; 
loosened  may  the  streams  rush  forward.  Drench  heaven  and  earth, 
give  good  drink  to  the  kine.  .  .  . — 10.  Well  hast  thou  poured 
down  the  rain,  now  cease  ;  thou  makest  that  we  can  pass  over  the 
dry  plains  ;  thou  hast  made  the  herbs  to  sprout  that  we  may  eat,  and 
hast  received  praise  from  the  creatures." 

19.  The  Rig-Veda  was  not  generally  known,  even 
in  name,  sixty  years  ago,  except  among  English  and 
a  few  German  scholars, — certainly  not  in  Russia. 
Yet  we  find  in  the  works  of  the  great  Russian  poet 
Pushkin  a  short  poem,  which  might  be  a  free  para- 
phrase on  this  hymn  to  Parjanya.  We  must  be  per- 
mitted to  translate  it  for  our  readers,  as  it  suggests 
interesting  comparisons,  and  may  serve  as  an  addi- 
tional warning  not  to  be  too  prompt  to  suspect 
connections  or  imitation  wherever  there  is  similarity 
of  thought  or  imagery.  Besides,  the  poem  is  both 
short  and  beautiful. 

THE  CLOUD. 

Thou  latest  straggler  of  a  ^torm  that 's  fled  ! 

Alone  thou  floatest  o'er  the  joyous  blue, 
And  castest,  on  thy  envious  course  and  sad. 

O'er  day  reviving  an  ungenial  hue. 

It  was  but  now  thy  shade  the  sky  o'erspread. 

And  from  thy  gloom  the  threatening  lightning  broke. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  2O9 

And  from  thy  womb  the  mystic  thunder  spoke, 
And  with  thy  rain  the  thirsting  earth  was  fed. 

Enough  then  !  hie  thee  from  the  peaceful  scene  ! 

Refreshed  is  earth,  and  long  dispersed  the  storm  ; 

The  zephyr  courts  the  trees  and  sweeps  thy  form 
Far  from  the  azure  of  the  sky  serene. 

20.  But  little  need  be  added  specially  about  Indra's 
companions  in  battle,  the  warlike  Maruts — the 
Storm-Winds.  They  are  the  sons  of  Prishni,  the 
Cloud-cow,'  and  of  RUDRA,  rather  a  subordinate 
deity  in  the  Veda,  though  undoubtedly  very  old, 
but  who,  in  later  Brahmanism  and  especially  Hin- 
duism, rose  to  the  highest  rank.  He  is  thought  by 
the  latest  scholars  to  be  a  personification  of  the 
stormy  sky,  as  opposed  to  the  serene  sky — V^runa. 
Ludwig  suggests  that  the  oldest  conception  of  Dyaus 
— the  Sky  in  its  entirety,  in  all  its  manifestations — 
split  itself  into  those  of  Varuna  and  Rudra,  the  latter 
representing  the  elementary,  the  former  the  spiritual 
and  moral  side  of  the  original  conception  "^ — of 
course  a  later  evolution,  yet  older  than  Indra. 
Rudra  undoubtedly  is  a  wielder  of  the  thunder- 
bolt :  it  is  his  deadly  arrow,  with  which  he  is  en- 
treated not  to  strike  the  worshipper,  or  his  children, 
or  his  cattle,  but,  if  need  be,  to  draw  his  mighty 
bow  against  "somebody  else."  "The  Terrible" 
(rudra)   is  his  name,    and  terrible  he  is  ;  and  the 

'  Prishni,  "speckled,"  from  the  root  PRISH,  which,  however,  also 
means  "  sprinkle "  (the  connection  between  the  two  is  obvious) 
— a  play  on  homonyms  or  pun  quite  in  the  taste  of  all  ancient 
mythical  poetry,  and  a  liberal  source  of  stories,  riddles,  and  puzzles. 

*    The  Rigveda,  vol,  iii.,  p.  320. 
14 


210  VEDIC  INDIA. 

flattering  things  which  are  said  of  and  to  him,  about 
his  beauty,  his  splendor,  his  healing  powers,  must 
be  taken  as  the  deprecatory  utterances  of  fear.  The 
best  that  is  expected  of  him  is  to  spare.  It  will  be 
seen  how  widely  this  deity  differs  from  Indra. 

21.  The  Maruts  themselves  are  frequently  called 
Rudras.  They  appear  always  in  troops  ;  sometimes 
they  are  twenty-seven,  sometimes  sixty-six;  then 
there  are  said  to  be  thousands  of  them — ways  of 
saying  "  a  great  many."  They  are  all  alike ;  no 
distinctions  are  made  between  them,  either  of  age 
or  appearance  ;  they  always  act  in  a  body  and  are 
"  of  one  mind."  Sometimes  they  drive  along  "  with 
golden  mantles  waving,  sometimes  "  cloaked  in  rain," 
and  once  they  are  shown  "  clothed  in  the  woolly 
cloud  "  as  they  "  split  open  the  rock  with  might." 
Their  chariots,  drawn  by  self-yoked  dappled  mares 
or  spotted  deer,  fleet  as  birds,  now  are  "  laden  with 
lightning,"  now  with  buckets  and  barrels  of  water 
which  they  pour  down  as  they  go,  singing  loudly. 
Their  very  sweat  is  rain,  and  pleasant  to  the  ear  is 
the  crack  of  their  whips  (the  whistle  and  whizz  of 
the  wind  that  ushers  in  a  storm).  They  are  boister- 
ous and  noisy.  The  hymns  are  simply  inexhausti- 
ble on  this  theme,  and  rise  on  some  occasions  to 
naturalistic  poetry  of  great  beauty.  No  enemy  is 
there  to  face  them,  not  in  heaven  nor  on  earth  ;  they 
make  the  mountains  to  tremble,  they  rend  and  shake 
the  trees  like  wild  elephants ;  the  earth  totters  and 
quakes  before  them  with  fear  "  as  an  aged  king." 
Of  course  they  are  entreated  for  all  the  usual  good 
things  of  which  Indra  is  commonly  the  dispenser, 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  211 

and  they  are  not  spared  rebuke  any  more  than  Indra 
when  they  do  not  respond  promptly  enough  to  their 
votaries'  instances : 

"  Were  ye  but  mortals,  O  sons  of  Prishni,  and  your  worshipper 
were  an  immortal — ye  should  not  be  neglected  as  the  insect  (?)  in  the 
grass,  nor  should  ye  go  the  road  to  Yama  [die]  ;  nor  be  perpetually 
subjected  to  distress  and  danger." 

22.  Great  and  constant  as  is  the  friendship  between 
Indra  and  the  Maruts,  there  are  some  few  traces  in 
the  hymns  of  a  dispute  between  them,  with  mutual 
reproaches  and  self-assertion.  Now  a  dispute  be- 
tween gods  always  means  one  between  their  votaries, 
and  verses  like  the  following  may  point  to  some 
ancient  schism  between  priests  of  the  Maruts  and 
priests  of  Indra,  each  party  probably  contending 
for  their  favorites'  respective  claims  to  superior 
prowess  and  power.  In  the  principal  of  the  pas- 
sages in  question,  Indra  rebukes  the  Maruts  for 
having  left  him  to  fight  the  serpent  Ahi  single- 
handed,  immediately  adding  that  he  is  strong  and 
powerful  enough  to  overcome  his  enemies  by  his 
own  might  alone.     They  reply  : 

"  Thou  hast  indeed  done  great  things,  O  mighty  one,  with  us  for 
thy  helpers,  through  our  equal  valor.  But  we  Maruts,  O  strong 
Indra,  can  perform  many  great  deeds  by  our  power  when  we  so 
desire." 

Indra  retorts:  "By  my  own  inborn  might,  O  Maruts,  I  slew 
Vritra.  Through  my  own  wrath  I  grew  so  strong.  It  was  I  who, 
wielding  the  lightning,  opened  the  way  for  the  shining  waters  to  run 
down  for  men  " 

The  Maruts  :  "In  truth,  O  hero,  there  is  nought  thou  canst  not 
conquer.     Thou  hast  no  equal  among  the  gods.     ..." 


212  VEDIC  INDIA, 

Indra  :  "  Mine  then  must  be  the  supreme  power.  What  I  have 
begun,  I  carry  out  wisely  ;  for,  O  Maruts,  I  am  known  as  the 
Strong  One.     ..."     (I.,  165.) 

In  conclusion,  Indra  expresses  himself  as  pleased 
with  their  praise  and  homage,  and  the  old  friendship 
is  renewed — on  the  distinct  understanding  that  In- 
dra is  the  greater.  And  so  he  has  the  best  of  it 
here,  as  he  had  in  his  dispute  with  Varuna. 

23.  We  have  now  pretty  thoroughly  studied  those 
gloomy  scenes  of  what  we  called  the  Atmospheric 
Drama  which  are  known  in  mythological  language 
as  the  Storm-Myth.  But  there  is  another  drama, 
enacted  not  in  the  Middle-Region,  but  on  a  higher 
plane — in  the  highest  heaven  itself ;  nor  are  the  chief 
actors  beings  of  war  and  violence,  but  the  most 
beauteous  and  gentle  of  Powers — the  light-and-life- 
giving  Sun,  and  the  loveliest  of  heaven's  daughters, 
the  Dawn.  Wherefore  the  scenes  in  which  they  take 
part  have  received  the  collective  name  of  SUN-AND- 
Dawn  Myth.  Their  parts — as  those  of  genuine  pro- 
tagonists or  "  first  subjects  "  should — embrace  both 
love  and  war :  love  towards  each  other  (for  in  some 
way  Sun  and  Dawn  must  always  be  closely  con- 
nected), and  war  with  the  beings  of  opposite  nature 
to  theirs:  Darkness  in  all  its  forms,  and  consequently 
some  of  the  foes  of  Indra  and  the  Maruts — obscuring 
clouds  and  blinding  mists. 

24.  The  Sun-and-Dawn  drama  presents  more 
variety  of  incident  than  the  Storm  drama,  for  the 
reason  that  these  two  mythical  persons  offer  richer 
poetical  material  to  a  lively  imagination  which, 
according   to   the    moment's    mood   or   fancy,   can 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  2l^ 

place  them  in  different  relations  to  each  other  and 
to  the  other  and  lesser  powers  which  complete 
the  cast.  Thus,  if  the  Dawn  is  the  born  enemy  of 
Darkness,  which  to  dispel  and  rout  is  her  only 
business,  she  is  also  the  twin  sister  of  Night,  as 
they  are  manifestly  both  daughters  of  Dyaus,  the 
Sky,  and  both  work  in  harmony  in  their  alternate 
times,  keeping  the  eternal  ordinances  of  Rita  and 
the  Adityas  (see  pp.  146,  155).  Then  again  she  has 
another  sister,  even  more  brilliant,  but  also  older, 
sadder  than  herself — the  evening  Gloaming,  doomed 
to  be  devoured  by  the  demon  Darkness,  the  shaggy 
Beast,  which  the  bright  young  sister  vanquished  in 
the  morning.  Or  yet — Dawn  and  Gloaming  are  one: 
the  maiden,  dazzling  in  her  beauty,  arrayed  in  saf- 
fron and  rosy  robes,  drives  her  golden  chariot 
through  the  portals  of  the  East,  closely  followed  by 
her  lover  the  young  Sun,  whose  advances  she  re- 
ceives, coy,  but  not  unwilling,  until  her  delicate, 
ethereal  being  shrinks  from  his  more  and  more  fiery 
touch  and  she  flees  to  the  ends  of  the  heavens,  van- 
ishes, and  is  lost  to  her  gay  lover ;  he,  meantime,  not 
being  free  to  tarry  (for  the  path  laid  out  by  Rita 
must  be  run),  pursues  his  way,  meets  foes — the  cloud- 
demons  of  many  shapes,  the  crawling  mist-serpents, 
whom  he  transfixes  and  dispels  with  his  golden  spear 
— meets  other  loves  too,  especially  the  dangerously 
fascinating  Apsdras,  the  water- maidens  that  sail  the 
sky  on  light  shifting  cloudlets — until,  weary,  shorn  of 
his  power,  yet  glorious  still,  he  sinks  low  and  lower, 
sometimes  serenely  victorious,  sometimes  still  fight- 
ing his  darkling,  crowding  foes,  whom  he  disperses 


214  VEDIC  INDIA. 

by  a  last  mighty  effort,  like  a  dying  hero  ;  and  here 
at  last  he,  the  old  Sun,  beholds  again  his  love  of 
the  morning — no  longer  the  radiant,  hopeful  Dawn, 
but  the  subdued,  the  saddened  Gloaming.  For  one 
brief  while  the  lovers  are  united  at  their  career's 
end  ;  for  one  brief  moment  the  joy  of  their  meeting 
irradiates  the  West,  then,  in  each  other's  embrace, 
they  sink  to  their  rest — to  their  doom,  and  Darkness, 
their  arch-foe,  engulphs  them.  To-morrow's  young 
rising  Sun  is  their  child— if  the  popular  fancy  cares 
to  look  for  a  sequel  to  the  day's  drama,  which  is  not 
usual  in  early  Indian  poetry.  It  prefers  the  fiction 
of  the  old  Sun  being  somehow  rejuvenated,  cured, 
liberated,  and  reappearing  youthful  and  vigorous  in 
the  morning. 

25.  It  is  very  evident  that  these  are  only  one  or 
two  of  a  great  many  possible  poetical  interpretations 
of  the  same  natural  phenomena,  and  that  each  such 
interpretation  must  shape  itself  into  an  image,  an 
incident,  a  story.  What  endless  material  for  love 
stories,  love  tragedies  !  Each  such  utterance,  sepa- 
rately, is  only  a  more  or  less  apt  and  beautiful  poetical 
figure,  simile,  metaphor.  But  if  collected  and  fitted 
and  pieced  into  a  system,  then  consistently  carried 
through,  some  very  queer  and  even  distressing  feat- 
ures will  appear — distressing,  i.e.,  so  long  as  we  have 
not  the  key  to  mythical  language  and  take  its  say- 
ings as  we  would  so  many  bald  statements  on  human 
affairs.  So,  while  the  Sun  is  the  eternal  foe  of  Dark- 
ness, still,  as  he  is  seen  to  emerge  out  of  darkness, 
he  may,  in  a  sense,  be  said  to  be  the  "  Child  of  Dark- 
ness," and  it  follows  that  he  of  necessity  must  kill 


THE    STORM-MYTH.  21 5 

his  father,  just  as  Agni  must  needs  devour  his  parents 
as  soon  as  born  (see  p.  i6o).  Again,  it  is  no  faulty 
poetical  figure  to  call  the  Sun  the  child,  or  the 
brother,  of  the  Dawn — and  then  it  may  very  well 
happen  that  he  loves,  or  wxds,  his  mother  or  his  sis- 
ter, or  kills  her  !  Bad  enough  to  place  gods  in  such 
awkward  positions ;  at  least  the  devout  votary  has 
the  resource,  like  Agni's  worshipper,  to  abstain  from 
judging  the  acts  of  great  deities  (see  p.  i6o).  But 
bring  down  all  this  to  earth — as  all  nature-myth  has 
invariably  been  brought  down,  to  become  Heroic 
Epos — and  see  in  what  a  fine  tangle  the  later  poets 
will  find  themselves,  what  horrible  deeds  they  will 
calmly  relate  of  their  most  cherished  ancient  heroes 
and  founders  of  royal  houses,  without  the  least 
consciousness  or  recollection  of  the  original  real 
meaning  of  what  they  tell !  Fortunately  there  is  lit- 
tle system  or  consistency  in  the  Rig-Veda — at  least, 
so  far  as  combining  and  connecting  the  different 
myths  with  which  it  teems.  So  we  can  take  each 
one  on  its  own  merits,  untroubled  by  moral  qualms 
or  logical  misgivings. 

sOrYA — THE   SUN. 

26.  To  begin  with  plain  fact,  SURYA  is  the 
Sanskrit  common  noun  designating  the  Sun  ;  the 
root  contained  in  it  gives  it  the  meaning  of  "  bril- 
liant, shining."  And  Surya  is,  in  the  Rig-Veda,  the 
material,  visible  luminary,  "created"  by  the  gods 
(or  even  some  particular  god),  and  obedient  to  their 
bidding.  But  Surya  is  not  only  the  sun,  he  is  also 
the  Sun-god,  powerful,  independent,  subject  only  to 


2l6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  ordinances  of  the  great  Adityas,  themselves 
governed  by  Rita,  the  supreme  Cosmic  and  Moral 
Law.  This  distinction — surely  unconscious,  and 
which  we  find  in  the  presentment  of  all  the  Nature- 
gods — between  their  physical  and  moral  essence, 
accounts  for  the  difference  in  the  tone  of  the  several 
hymns,  and  even  different  parts  of  the  same  hymns, 
addressed  to  this  deity.  These  invocations  are 
mostly  fine  poetry,  and  the  figures  used  explain 
themselves. 

27.  One  quality  has  been  universally  ascribed  to 
the  divinized  Sun  in  every  age,  by  every  ancient 
race :  that  of  being  "  all-seeing."  The  association  of 
this  quality  with  the  giver  of  light  and  the  disperser 
of  darkness  is  too  natural  to  suggest  mutual  borrow- 
ing, and  we  need  not  wonder  if  we  find  a  striking 
resemblance  between  the  Old  Chaldean  and  the  Old 
Aryan  hymns  to  the  Sun,  not  only  in  this  particular, 
but  in  several  other  poetical  conceptions.'  Surya, 
a  Son  of  the  Sky  (Dyaus),  we  have  already  learned 
to  know  as  the  Eye  of  Mitra  and  Varuna."  Now, 
in  Oriental  phraseology,  the  Eyes  of  the  King  are 
his  spies,  so  it  is  but  natural  that  he  should  observe 
all  the  deeds  of  men,  and  report  them  to  the  great 
Adityas,  the  guardians  and  avengers  of  Law  and 
Right.  That  the  expression  was  really  understood 
in  this  manner  is  proved  by  the  frequent  prayer  to 
Surya  to  "  report  men  sinless  before  the  Adityas," — 
which  looks  singularly  like  a  request,  in  child-slang, 
"  not  to  tell  on  them,"  and  so  not  bring  them  into 

'See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp.  171,  172. 

'  Once  Surya  is  called  the  Eye  of  Agni  also  (I.,  115). 


THE  STORM-MYTH.  21 J 

disgrace  and  punishment.  Thus  one  of  the  Vasish- 
thas  sings : 

"  If  thou,  O  Surya,  at  thy  rising  wilt  report  us  truly  sinless  to 
Varuna  and  Mitra,  we  will  sing  to  please  the  gods.  .  .  .  Surya 
is  rising,  O  Varuna-Mitra,  to  pace  both  worlds,  looking  down  on 
men,  protector  of  all  that  travel  or  stay,  beholding  right  and  wrong 
among  men.  He  unharnesses  his  seven  Harits  '  .  .  .  and  hastens 
dutifully  to  your  throne,  ye  twain,  surveying  all  beings,  as  a  shepherd 
his  flock.  .  .  .  Surya  emerges  from  the  sea  of  light,  he  whose 
path  the  Adityas  laid  out.     .     .     ."    (VII.,  60.) 

".  .  .  He  unweaves  [ravels  up]  the  black  mantle,  his  rays  cast 
off  the  darkness,  rolling  it  up  as  a  hide  and  dropping  it  into  the 
waters. 

*'  Not  hanging  on  to  anything,  not  made  fast,  how  comes  it  that  he 
falls  not  from  such  height  ?  By  whose  guidance  does  he  travel  ? 
Who  has  seen  it  ?  "    (IV.,  13.) 

Even  more  rapturous  is  the  following  greeting : 

"  The  gods'  bright  face  has  now  arisen,  the  Eye  of  Mitra,  Varuna, 
and  Agni ;  Surya  fills  heaven,  earth,  and  atmosphere,  the  breath  of 
life  of  all  that  stands  and  moves.  .  .  .  The  beautiful  golden 
Harits,  the  bright  ones,  hailed  by  songs  of  joy,  they  mount  to  the 
highest  heaven,  and  in  one  day  their  course  encircles  heaven  and  earth. 
And  when  he  unharnesses  the  mares,  the  veil  of  darkness 
spreads  over  all  things."     (I.,  115.) 

■  We  have  learned  to  know  the  Sun  as  a  horse,  and 
as  a  bird.  These  images  both  remain  standing 
symbols  of  the  god,  and  there  even  are  two  hymns 
(I.,  163  and  X.,  177),  rather  obscurely  and  mystically 
worded,  celebrating  him  as  "  the  Bird  adorned  by 

'  Surya's  seven  steeds  or  mares-^as  also  the  Dawn's — are  generally 

called  Harits  ("brilliant,  ruddy") ;  they  are  of  course  his  rays,  as 

the  first  verse  of  I.,  50,  expressly  shows  (see  farther  on).    It  should  be 

'  noted,  however,  that  the  steeds  of  other  gods — Indra's  and  Agni's, 

for  instance — are  also  sometimes  called  so. 


2l8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  Asura "  (Varuna),  and  as  "  the  Horse  who 
neighed  as  soon  as  he  was  born,  emerging  out  of 
the  waters  [or  mist],"  the  Steed  with  the  "falcon's 
wings  and  the  gazelle's  feet."  So  the  Dawn  is  said 
to  bring  "the  Eye  of  the  gods"  to  "lead  forth  the 
white  and  lovely  horse."  There  are  few  entire 
hymns  addressed  to  Surya,  but  of  these  the  fol- 
lowing (I.,  50),  has  become  famous  for  its  rich 
imagery  and  its  unusually  finished  literary  form  : 

"  I.  The  god  who  knows  all  beings  rises  aloft,  drawn  by  his  rays, 
that  he,  Surya,  may  behold  all  things.' — 2.  Straightway,  like  thieves, 
the  stars  with  their  brightness  slink  away  before  the  all-seeing  god. — 
3,  His  rays  are  visible  to  all  mankind,  blazing  like  flames. — 4.  All- 
conspicuous  on  thy  rapid  course  thou  createst  light,  illumining  the 
whole  firmament. — 5.  Thou  risest  for  the  race  of  gods  and  for  that  of 
men,  that  all  may  behold  thy  light. — 6.  With  that  same  glance  where- 
with Varuna,  the  illuminator,  surveys  the  busy  race  of  men, — 7. 
Thou,  O  Surya,  searches!  the  sky  and  the  wide  space,  making  the 
days,  spying  out  all  creatures. — 8.  Seven  mares  bear  thee  on,  O  far- 
seeing  Surya,  in  thy  chariot,  god  of  the  flaming  locks. — g.  Surya  has 
harnessed  the  seven  Harits,  daughters  of  the  car,  self-yoked. — 10. 
Gazing  out  of  the  darkness  up  at  the  hig.hest  light,  we  have  reached 
Surya,  a  god  among  the  gods. " 

INDRA   AND   SURYA. 

Surya's  relations  to  Indra  are  rather  peculiar.  The 
grim  warrior  god  appears  to  treat  him  sometimes  in 
a  friendly  and  sometimes  in  a  hostile  way.  True, 
there  are  many  passages — in  hymns  to  Indra,  be  it 
noted — which  would  place  the  sun-god  in  his  direct 
dependence,  by  actually  saying  that  he  was  created 

'  This  is  the  rendering  of  the  French  scholar  A.  Bergaigne  ;  others 
translate,  "  that  all  may  behold  Surya."  Either  meaning  would  be 
appropriate  and  satisfactory. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  2I9 

by  Indra;  but  this  must  be  taken  only  as  a  piece  of 
exaggeration  from  excessive  zeal  on  the  part  of  the 
worshipper  to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  deity  he  is 
invoking — a  trick  of  Vedic  priestly  poetry  which  has 
long  been  noticed  as  one  of  its  most  peculiar  and 
characteristic  features.  When,  however,  Indra  is 
said  to  have  prepared  the  way  for  Surya,  or  "caused 
him  to  shine,"  it  is  no  more  than  good  myth-rhetoric. 
For  we  can  well  imagine — from  personal  observation — 
the  sun-god  so  overwhelmed  in  battle  with  Ahi, 
Vritra,  and  other  cloud-demons  as  to  be  unable  to 
extricate  himself  and  overcome  his  foes  without  the 
help  of  the  Thunderer's  weighty  ann  ;  in  plain  prose 
— a  thunderstorm  clears  the  sky  and  allows  the  sun 
to  shine.  It  is,  in  substance,  the  same  myth  as  that 
contained  in  a  passage  which  tells  how  "  the  gods 
lifted  Surya  out  of  the  sea  \saimidrd\  wherein  he  lay 
hidden  "  (X.,  72).  Not  less  transparent  is  the  re- 
quest to  Indra  that  he  should  "hide  the  sun,"  here 
likened  to  a  wheel,  and  direct  his  bolts  against 
Shushna,  the  Demon  of  Drought.  But  this  short 
verse  also  very  clearly  shows  how  Surya,  on  cer- 
tain occasions,  could  be  regarded  by  Indra,  on  be- 
half of  men  and  nature  generally,  as  an  enemy  and 
a  nuisance, to  be  suppressed,  at  least  temporarily,  at 
all  cost.  For  when  battle  is  to  be  waged  in  earnest 
against  the  wickedest  of  all  fiends,  the  blazing  disc, 
or  wheel,  of  the  sun  is  hardly  a  desirable  auxiliary. 
So  that  we  do  not  wonder  at  the  climax  when  Indra 
is  praised  for  having,  with  the  help  of  Soma,  broken 
a  wheel  from  Surya's  chariot  and  sent  it  spinning 
downhill,  thereby  laming  "  the  great  wizard." 


220  VEDIC  INDIA. 

INDRA   AND    USHAS. 

27.  On  the  same  principle  we  can  understand 
how  the  Dawn  herself — USHAS,  the  beautiful,  the 
auspicious ' — could  be  treated  by  Indra  at  times  with 
the  utmost  severity  ;  in  seasons  of  drought,  is  not  the 
herald  of  another  cloudless  day,  the  bringer  of  the 
blazing  sun,  a  wicked  sorceress,  a  foe  to  gods  and 
men,  to  be  dealt  with  as  such  by  the  Thunderer 
when,  soma-drunk,  he  strives  with  his  friends  the 
Maruts  to  storm  the  brazen  stables  of  the  sky,  and 
bring  out  the  blessed  milch-kine  which  are  therein 
imprisoned?  Indra's  treatment  of  the  hostile  Dawn 
is  as  summary  as  his  treatment  of  Surya,  though  at 
other  times  he  is  as  ready  to  help  her,  and  "  lay  out 
a  path  "  for  her,  and  "  cause  her  to  shine  "  or  "  light 
her  up,"  It  is  the  same  myth  ;  and  fortunately  we 
have  it  in  a  far  clearer  and  completer  form.  Smash- 
ing the  obnoxious  one's  car  seems  to  be  the  one 
method  which  occurs  to  the  great  foe-smiter,  who  is 
more  earnest  than  inventive. 

"This  heroic  task  also,  this  manly  deed,  O  Indra,  thou  didst 
perform,  that  thou  didst  smite  the  woman  who  planned  mischief, 
the  Daughter  of  the  Sky  [Dyaus]  ;  this  Ushas,  who  was  exalting 
herself,  thou  didst  strike  her  down.  Ushas  fell  in  terror  from  her 
shattered  car  when  the  mighty  one  had  felled  it  to  the  ground. 
There  it  lay,  broken  utterly,  while  she  herself  fled  far  away." 
(IV.,  30.) 

This  feat. of  Indra's  is  recounted  in  a  hymn  which 
rehearses  a  list  of  his  finest  exploits.  It  is  evidently 
looked  on  as  one  of  his  highest  claims  to  glory  and 

'  Ushas — from  a  root  meaning  "  to  burn,"  "  to  glow." 


THE   STORM-MYTH,  .  221 

gratitude,  for  it  is  repeatedly  alluded  to  in  different 
books.  In  one  passage,  the  fair  Ushas  is  represented 
as  having  taken  the  lesson  to  heart  and  flying  of  her 
own  accord,  leaving  her  chariot  standing,  from  fear 
of  Indra's  bolt,  while  in  another  the  latter  is  said  to 
have  smitten  certain  enemies  as  he  had  broken 
Ushas'  car.  Z^ 

USHAS,  THE  DAWN. 

28.  What  strikes  us  most  in  all  this  is  the  exulting 
and  insulting  tone  in  which  the  poets  celebrate  the 
defeat  of  the  goddess  who  is,  except  on  this  one  oc- 
casion, their  greatest  favourite,  their  heart's  desire, 
— one  might  almost  say  their  pet.  Some  twenty 
hymns  are  addressed  wholly  to  her,  and  she  has  a 
place  in  numerous  others  ;  and  everywhere  the  poets' 
fancy  exhausts  itself  in  brilliant  and  dainty  imagery, 
in  a  variety  of  loving  and  admiring  epithets.  Again 
and  again  she  is  likened  to  a  beautiful  woman  or 
maiden,  who  reveals  herself  in  all  her  loveliness  ;  and 
it  must  be  confessed  that  these  descriptions,  as  a 
rule,  recall  Oriental  harem  life  (or  the  Zenana  of  In- 
dian princes),  too  realistically  to  be  relished  by  the 
general  reader  in  their  original  crudity.  So  that 
such  passages,  scattered  through  most  of  the  Rig 
books,  may  best  be  summed  up  in  the  very  compre- 
hensive lines  of  Mr.  J.  Muir.' 

"  Like  a  beautiful  young  woman  dressed  by  her  mother,  a  richly 
decked  dancing  girl,  a  gaily  attired  wife  appearing  before  her  hus- 
band, or  a  female  rising  resplendent  out  of  the  bath, — smiling  and 

'  Sanskrit  Texts,  vol.  v.,  p.  194. 


222  VEDIC  INDIA. 

confiding  in  the  irresistible  power  of  her  attractions,  she  unveils  her 
bosom  to  the  gaze  of  the  beholder." 

A  few  characteristic  verses  culled  from  various 
hymns  will  be  more  interesting  and  instructive  than 
descriptions  detached  from  the  texts : 

"  The  shining  Ushas  has  been  perceived  ;  she  has  opened  the 
doors  [of  the  sky]  ;  setting  in  motion  all  living  things,  she  has 
revealed  to  us  treasures — [the  golden  treasures  of  light  that  were 
hidden  by  darkness] — Ushas  has  awakened  all  creatures  (I.,  113,  4). 
— .  .  .  She  hastens  on,  arousing  footed  creatures,  and  makes  the 
birds  fly  aloft  (I.,  48,  5). — The  birds  fly  up  from  their  nests  and  men 
seeking  food  leave  their  homes  (I.,  124,  12). — [Arousing]  the  pros- 
trate sleeper  to  move,  [impelling]  one  to  enjoyment,  another  to  the 
pursuit  of  wealth,  [enabling]  those  who  see  but  a  little  way  to  see  far  ; 
.  [arousing]  one  to  wield  the  royal  power,  another  to  follow 
after  fame,  another  to  the  pursuit  of  wealth,  another  to  perform  ser- 
vices, Ushas  awakes  all  creatures  to  go  their  different  paths  in  life 
(I.,  113,  5,  6). — Inasmuch  as  thou  hast  made  Agni  to  be  kindled— 
[for  morning  worship] — .  .  .  and  hast  awakened  the  men  who 
are  to  sacrifice,  thou  hast  done  good  service  to  the  gods  (I.,  113,  g). 
— She  has  yoked  [her  horses]  from  the  remote  rising  place  of  Siirya  ; 
,  .  .  Everything  that  moves  bows  down  before  her  glance  ;  the 
active  goddess  creates  light  ;  by  her  appearance  the  magnificent 
Daughter  of  the  Sky  drives  away  our  haters.  Ushas  has  repelled 
our  enemies.  ...  In  thee  when  thou  dawnest  is  the  life  and 
breath  of  all  creatures.     .     .     .  "      (I-,  48,  7-io-) 

The  dispeller  of  enemies — not  only  of  the  powers 
of  darkness,  but  also  of  thieves  and  other  malefactors 
who  are  sheltered  by  darkness,  of  bad  dreams,  phan- 
toms, spells,  and  all  the  evil  brood  of  darkness — is 
quite  naturally  likened  to  a  warrior  brandishing 
weapons.  But  rarely.  The  poets  dwell  almost  en- 
tirely on  the  lovely  and  even  the  pathetic  aspects  of 
their   favorite.      And    indeed    there    is  no  lack   of 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  223 

pathos  and  sadness  in  the  conception  of  a  beauteous 
and  gracious  being  who,  herself  immortal  and  ever 
youthful,  though  old  as  Time,  serenely  and  inevi- 
tably, in  obedience  to  the  highest  Law,  (she  is 
"the  preserver  of  Rita,"  "born  in  Rita,")  both 
prolongs  and  shortens  life,  each  new  day  being 
both  her  gift  to  men  and  the  tribute  she  levies  on 
their  sum  of  days.  The  pathos  is  deepened  if  the 
bringer  of  food  and  joy,  the  dispenser  of  life  and 
death,  is  herself  a  mortal,  a  creature  of  a  day — 
nay,  of  an  hour, — one  of  many  as  brilliant  and  as 
ephemeral  as  herself,  as  she  needs  must  be  if  each 
day  is  thought  as  having  a  dawn  to  itself.  In  the 
hymns  to  Ushas  we  find  her  addressed  and  referred 
to  almost  in  one  breath  both  as  the  one  ever- 
returning  or  born  again,  and  as  the  fleeting  unit  of 
an  endless  series: 


"  ...  As  thou  wast  invoked  by  the  poets  of  old,  .  .  . 
reward  our  praise  also,  O  Ushas,  with  gifts  and  with  brilliant  light  ! 
(I.,  48,  14). 

"  Maintaining  the  ordinances  of  the  gods,  but  wasting  away  the 
lives  of  men,  Ushas  has  shone  forth,  the  last  of  the  numerous  Dawns 
that  are  past,  and  the  first  of  those  that  are  coming  (I.,  124,  2). 

"  Shine  on  us  with  thy  best  rays,  O  divine  Ushas  ;  give  us  a  long 
life!  (VII.,  77,  5). 

"  Ushas  has  dawned  before  ;  let  her  now   dawn   again.     .     .     . 

(I.,  48,  3). 

"  Born  again  and  again,  though  ancient,  shining  with  an  ever 
uniform  hue,  she  wastes  away  the  life  of  mortals  as  a  clever  gambler 
the  stakes — (I. ,92,  10). 

"  Ushas  follows  the  track  of  the  Dawns  that  are  past  and  is  the 
first  of  the  unnumbered  Dawns  that  are  to  come. —  .  .  .  How 
great  is  the  interval  that  lies  between  the  Dawns  that  have  arisen  and 
those  which  are  yet  to  arise  ?     Ushas  yearns  longingly  after  the  for- 


224  VEDIC  INDIA. 

mer  Dawns  and  gladly  goes  on  shining  with  the  others  [that  are  to 
come].  Those  mortals  are  gone  who  saw  the  earliest  Ushas  dawn  ; 
we  shall  gaze  upon  her  now  ;  and  the  men  are  coming  who  are  to  be- 
hold her  on  future  morns. —  .  .  .  Perpetually  in  former  days 
did  the  divine  Ushas  dawn  ;  and  now  to-day  the  radiant  goddess 
beams  upon  this  world  :  undecaying,  immortal,  .  .  .  "  (I.,  113, 
8-13.) 

The  hymn  from  which  the  last  extract  is  taken 
(I.,  113)  is  the  longest  and  most  sustainedly  beauti- 
ful of  those  addressed  to  the  "  desire  of  all  men," 
— that  which  closes  with  the  magnificent  yf;zd!/<?,  the 
grandest  lyrical  effusion  in  the  whole  Rig-Veda  : 

"  Rise  !  Our  life,  our  breath  has  come  back  !  The  darkness  is 
gone,  the  light  approaches  !  Ushas  has  opened  a  path  for  Surya  to 
travel  ;  we  have  reached  the  point  where  our  days  are  lengthened. 
The  priest,  the  poet,  celebrating  the  brightening  Ushas,  arises  with 
the  web  of  his  hymn  ;  shine,  therefore,  magnificent  Ushas,  on  him 
who  praises  thee.  .  .  .  Mother  of  the  gods  !  manifestation  of 
Aditi  ! '  banner  of  the  sacrifice,  mighty  Ushas,  shine  forth  !  Arise  ! 
lenda  gracious  ear  to  our  prayer,  giver  of  all  boons  !"  (I.,  113,  16-20.) 

We  seem  to  see  the  uplifted  hands,  the  worship- 
ping upturned  eyes,  amid  the  glories  of  the  awaken- 
ing Eden-like  nature — and  we  long  for  a  burst  of 
Wagner's  song  and  harmony.  It  seems  as  though 
nothing  short  of  Brynhild's  waking  invocation,  "  Hail, 
O  Sun,"  could  worthily  render  the  grandeur,  sim- 
plicity and  whole-hearted  adoration  in  this  archaic 
ode.*' 

*  See  p.  154. 

*  Nor  is  the  association  far-fetched.  For  Brynhild  and  Sigfrid  are 
originally  the  Sun-and-Dawn  lovers  of  Teutonic  mythology,  as  is  now 
fully  understood  by  the  veriest  dabbler  in  music  and  folk-lore. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  22$ 

THE   TWO   SISTERS. 

29.  There  are  some  verses  in  this  same  hymn 
which  very  beautifully  and  completely  describe  the 
Dawn's  relations  to  her  sister,  who  of  course  is  no 
other  than  Night. 

' '  The  ruddy  Bright-one  with  her  bright  Calf  [the  Sun] '  has  arrived  ; 
to  her  the  Dark-one  has  relinquished  her  abodes  ;  kindred  to  one 
another,  immortal,  alternating  Night  and  Morning  go  on  changing 
color. — The  same  is  the  never-ending  path  of  the  two  sisters,  which 
they  travel  by  the  gods'  command.  They  strive  not,  they  rest  not, 
the  majestic  Night  and  Dawn,  of  one  mind,  though  unlike." — (I., 
"3,  2-3.) 

Once  or  twice  the  Bright-one  is  said  to  be  born  of 
the  Dark-one  (the  Dawn  to  be  daughter  of  Night), 
but  in  the  great  majority  of  texts  they  are  sisters — the 
two  beauteous  Daughters  of  the  Sk}^,  equally  bene- 
ficent, equally  welcome,  and  equally — but  alternately 
— bringing  refreshment  and  vigor  to  all  that  lives  ; 
"  alike  to-day,  alike  to-morrow,  fulfilling  the  fixed 
ordinance  of  Varuna,"  never  transgressing  it,  never 
omitting  to  be  at  the  proper  time  at  the  appointed 
place.  Evidently  Night  is  not  here  conceived  as  the 
wicked  foe  of  men,  the  devouring  Beast,  the  river  or 
sea  of  darkness,  but  as  the  kind  friend,  the  bringer 
of  rest  and  coolness,  the  gentle  fosterer  and  restorer. 
Both  sisters  are  great  weavers.  They  are  perpetually 
weaving  mantles  and  veils — golden,  shining,  or  black, 
each  after  her  manner;  and  one  undoes  the  weav- 
ing of  the  other.  Ushas  shows  herself  beaming  at 
the  borders  of  the  sky,  having  thrown  off  the  dark 

'  This  peculiar  surname  will  be  explained  farther  on. 
15 


226  VEDIC  INDIA. 

covering,  as  she  drives  on  her  beautiful  chariot 
drawn  by  the  self-yoked  ruddy  steeds  (I.,  113,  14); 
Surya  rolls  it  up  like  a  hide  (VII.,  63,  i,)  unweaves, 
ravels  it  up,  and  hides  it  away  (IV.,  13,  4).  Yet  even 
this  work  the  sisters  perform  amicably:  "Jointly 
they  weave  the  out-spread  curtain  "  (II.,  4,  6).  So 
close  indeed  is  their  relationship,  though  each  goes 
when  the  other  comes — Ushas  "  chases  far  away  her 
sister  " — and  so  harmoniously  do  they  work  together, 
that  the  poet  at  last  wonderingly  asks  :  "  Which  of 
them  is  the  older  and  which  the  younger?  Who 
knows,  O  ye  sages?  They  carry  (between  them)  all 
that  exists,  revolving  as  on  one  wheel  "  (I.,  185,  l). 

30.  Ushas'  relations  to  the  Sun  are  as  natural,  but 
more  varied.  She  "  shines  with  the  light  of  her 
lover,"  Surya,  who  "  follows  her  as  a  lover  follows  a 
maiden."  But  she  flies  before  him  and  he  never  can 
join  her;  it  were  disastrous  for  her  if  he  did,  for  the 
delicate  Dawn  never  could  stand  the  full  blaze  of  her 
lover's  splendor  ;  indeed  one  poet  urges  her — not 
very  politely — to  hasten  and  make  no  delay,  that 
Surya  may  not  scorch  her  like  a  thief  or  an  enemy 
(v.,  79,  9).  But  sometimes  she  is  Silrya's  wife — 
though  he  is  her  brother  too,  both  being  children 
of  Dyaus — and  sometimes  his  mother.  As  such  she 
appears  in  that  peculiar  passage  where  she  arrives 
with  her  "  bright  Calf."  For  there  Ushas,  the  fair, 
the  resplendent,  appears  in  the  form  of a  Cow  ! 

31.  Vedic  heavenly  zoology  is  a  curious  thing; 
and  confusing,  unless  one  has  the  patience  to  study 
out  its  main  features  and  underlying  principle,  after 
which  it  becomes,  on   the  whole,  tolerably  intelligi- 


THE    STORM-MYTH.  22/ 

ble.     The  phenomena  are  many  ;  the  animals  are  few  ; 
so  they  have  to  do  duty  for  different  things.     They 
are,  if  we  may  so  word  it,  Jiomonyriis  in  their  way. 
Thus   the   Horse,  the  well-attested  emblem   of  the 
Sun,  once  in  a  while  stands  for  the  Sky — as  when 
the  Pitris  are  said  to  have  adorned  the  black  horse 
with  pearls  (the  moonless  starry  sky).     Serpents  are 
not  always  drought-clouds  ;  there  are  the  serpents  of 
darkness.     Nor  are  cows  always  rain-clouds ;  there 
are  also  the  ruddy,  bright  cows — the  Kine  of  Light, 
and  the  black  cows — the  Kine  of  Darkness.     Looked 
at  in  one  way,  Night  is  the  dark  stable  in  which  the 
bright  cows  are  shut  up  ;  Ushas  opens  the  stable  and 
they  bound  forth  joyously  and  "  scatter  around  her 
like  a  herd."     These  are  of  course  the  rays  of  the 
dawn  which  shoot  forth  in  all  directions — and   lo! 
Ushas  appears  in   the   role   of  shepherdess.     Vedic 
imagery  could  not  stop  there.     From  a  "  leader  of 
cows,"  she  became  "  the  mother  of  cows,"  and  con- 
sequently   a   cow    herself ;    a  lovely    bright  one  of 
course  ;  hence  her  child,  the  Sun — as  calf !    But  even 
so  her  bond  with  her  sister  Night  is  not  severed,  and 
both  are  invoked  together  as  "the  two  cows  which 
give  milk  of  different  colors  from  similar  udders." 
This    fully  explains  the  otherwise  obscure  passage 
where  Indra  is  said   to  have  put  dark  milk  in  the 
black  cows  and  light  milk  in  the  ruddy  ones. 

32.  We  must  not  forget  one  last  attribute  of 
Ushas,  not  the  least  of  her  charms  in  the  eyes  of 
her  by  no  means  disinterested  votaries — her  great 
wealth.  It  is  not  only  that,  at  her  coming,  she  re- 
veals the   treasures  of  golden  light, — the  herds  of 


228  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ruddy  cows, — which  had  been  hidden  by  her  sister 
Night.  She  is  the  dispenser,  in  an  indirect  way,  of 
far  more  substantial  treasures.  By  going  from  house 
to  house,  arousing  all  sleepers,  whether  poor  or  rich, 
ko  their  day's  work,  she  fosters  honest  endeavor  and 
-lelps  it  to  its  earnings.'  But  even  this  is  too  slow 
md  commonplace  a  way  to  wealth  to  content  those 
priests  who  are  forever  crying  out  to  the  gods,  in  the 
name  of  the  worshippers,  for  riches  on  a  large  scale — 
herds  of  cattle,  horses,  booty  from  enemies,  wives 
(really  female  slaves),  and  sons,  strong,  stalwart,  and 
numerous, — and,  in  their  own,  for  "  great  gifts  "  and 
"liberality,"/.^.,  the  highest  possible  pay  for  their 
priestly  services  from  kings  and  wealthy  patrons 
generally.  These  great  boons,  these  windfalls,  the 
gods  reserve  for  the  pious  sacrificer  and  "  soma- 
presser,"  the  zealous  performer  of  appointed  rites 
and  singer  of  hymns.  But,  to  be  efficacious,  the 
singing,  the  rites,  the  sacrifice,  must  take  place  at  the 
appointed  times,  of  which  the  most  sacred  and  im- 
portant is  the  hour  of  sunrise.  Ushas,  therefore, 
who  "  causes  Agni  to  be  kindled  "  on  the  .morning 
altar,  who  gives  the  signal  for  the  "joyful  voices  "  to 
be  raised,  and  "  brings  the  gods  to  the  sacrifice " 
jointly  with  their  messenger  Agni,  puts  men  in  the 
way  of  obtaining  all  they  so  much  covet,  and  thus 
becomes  a  dispenser  of  wealth.  Not  improperly, 
therefore,  is  she  addressed  in  such  strains  as  this, 


^  Morgenstund'  hat  gold  im  Mund  ("  Early  morn  has  its  mouth 
full  of  gold"),  the  homely  old  German  saw  instructs  us,  while  "  Early 
to  rise,"  and  "  The  early  bird,"  are  the  despair  of  every  nursery. 


THE  storm-myth;  229 

which    may  stand  here  for  numberless  similar  pas- 
sages : 

"Dawn  on  us  with  prosperity,  O  Ushas,  Daughter  of  the  Sky, 
with  great  glory,  O  luminous  and  bountiful  goddess,  with  riches  ! 
— Bringing  horses  and  cattle,  all-bestowing,  they  [the  Dawns]  have 
often  come  to  shine.  Send  riches  then  to  me  also,  O  Ushas,  incline 
the  Kings  to  dispense  gifts.  ,  .  .  Those  princes,  O  Ushas,  who 
at  thy  approach  incline  their  thoughts  to  liberality,  Kanva,  the  chief 
of  his  race,'  here  celebrates. — (I.,  4S,  1-4.) 

"  May  the  soma-presser  obtain  such  Dawns  as  rise  upon  the  liberal 
mortal  (Dawns),  rich  in  kine,  in  sons  all  stalwart,  and  in  horses. 
.     .     ."-(I-.  "3,  iS.) 

Always  the  same  thing:  the  bargain  between  the 
worshipper  and  the  deity  he  invokes.  To  the  "  lib- 
eral mortal,"  who  grudges  neither  soma,  nor  fire,  nor 
cakes  and  hymns,  nor  fees  to  the  priests,  a  liberal  re- 
turn is  due  from  the  gods.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that, 
however  varied  the  Vedic  Aryas'  mythical  {i.  e., 
poetical)  vocabulary  may  be,  their  begging  is  re- 
markably monotonous.  They  ask  precisely  the  same 
things  of  every  deity — quantities  of  them — and  in 
almost  precisely  the  same  words. 

N 

THE   ASHVINS. 

33.  Numerous  are  the  Children  of  the  Sky.  We 
will  close  the  brilliant  galaxy  with  the  renowned 
couple  of  twins,  the  ASHVINS,  or  Horsemen,  the 
brothers  of  the  Sun  and  the  Dawn.  They  are  almost 
as  great  favorites  as  the  latter.  Many  hymns  are 
addressed  to  them,  and  they  are  incidentally  men- 

^  This  hymn  is  one  of  a  collection  attributed  to  the  priestly  family 
of  the  Kanvas. 


230  VEDIC  INDIA. 

tioned  or  invoked  in  a  great  many  more.  No  other 
deities,  scarcely  Indra  himself,  have  become  the 
heroes  of  such  a  number  of  what  we  may  call  "  story- 
myths."  Indeed,  so  many  and  different  things  are 
told,  asked,  and  expected  of  them,  that  when  the 
Rig-Veda  had  lost  its  living  actuality,  and  commen- 
tators went  to  work  on  it,  they  were  fairly  puzzled 
to  determine  their  original  nature,  i.  c,  the  natural 
powers  or  phenomena  which  they  represent.  For 
they  are  not  only  horsemen  (or  more  probably 
"  descendants  of  the  horse,"  since  they  themselves 
never  ride,  but  drive  their  own  chariots  like  the 
other  gods) — they  are  also  the  physicians  of  gods 
and  men,  workers  of  miracles,  rescuers  from  storms, 
best  men  at  weddings,  protectors  of  love  and  conju- 
gal life.  This  is  certainly  confusing  ;  and  no  less  so 
are  the  answers  given  by  different  commentators  to 
the  query :  "  Who — or  rather  what — are  the  Ash- 
vins  ?  "  Yet  some  indications  we  owe  them  which 
helped  our  scholars  in  their  researches;  but  a  care- 
ful and  minute  study  of  the  Rig  texts  has,  as  usual, 
proved  the  surest  guide,  and  the  question  may  now 
be  considered  as  settled. 

34.  The  Ashvins'  connection  with  the  Horse 
(asJiva)  gives  assurance  of  their  heavenly  luminous 
nature,  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  many  epithets 
conferred  on  them.  Like  their  sister  Ushas,  they  are 
beautiful,  gracious,  bright,  swift,  immortal,  young, 
though  ancient.  This  latter  feature  alone  would 
point  to  a  regularly  recurring  phenomenon  of  the 
morning.  Then,  they  are  the  earliest  risers  and 
arrive  the  first  at  the  morning  sacrifice,  ahead  of  the 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  23  I 

Dawn,  who  is  said  to  come  immediately  after  them  ; 
the  worshipper,  to  greet  them  with  his  song  has  to 
get  up  before  the  dawn  ;  and  they  are  asked  to  come 
to  the  liouse  on  their  chariot  "  to  which  the  twihght 
is  yoked,"  for  the  sacrifice  held  "  at  the  first  hghting 
up  of  the  dawn."  Indeed  they  come  earher  still; 
their  chariot  appears"  at  the  end  of  the  night,"  and 
they  are  invoked  also  "  in  the  last  watch  of  night," 
as  well  as  "  at  break  of  day  " — two  moments,  to  be 
sure,  which  come  very  close  together  ;  with  the 
difference,  however,  that  at  the  former  it  is  still 
dark  and  at  the  latter  it  is  not  quite  light.  They  are 
*' dispellers  of  darkness"  and  "killers  of  Raksha- 
sas"like  all  luminous  beings;  they  "open  the  doors 
of  the  fast-closed  stable  rich  in  cows  "  (the  Dawns,  or 
the  rays  of  the  Dawn).  These  things  are  explicitly 
said  and  repeated  in  numbers  of  texts,"  and  leave  no 
doubt  as  to  the  original  place  of  the  Ashvins  in  the 
order  of  natural  phenomena  :  they  represent  the  twi- 
light hour  which  precedes  the  dawn,  luminous,  but 
not  yet  brilliant — adelicate  touch  quaintly  expressed 
by  giving  them  a  team  of  gray  asses — animals  that 
are  not  quite  horses  and  subdued  in  color.  Not 
always  though.  Nothing  is  immutable  in  the  Rig- 
Veda.  So  the  chariot  of  the  Ashvins  is  quite  as  often 
drawn  by  horses.  One  poet  is  struck  by  some  fancy, 
some  nice  characteristic  detail,  and  gives  it.  Another 
takes  it  up,  or  sets  it  aside,  at  his  pleasure — or,  for 
that  matter,  he  does  so  himself.  It  is  all  a  question 
of  moods,  not  deliberate  invention. 

'  See  for  a  large  and  convincing  collection  of  them  in  Myriantheus' 
valuable  monograph  Die  Agvins, 


232  VEDIC  INDIA. 

35.  The  most  decisive  witness  in  favor  of  this 
identification  of  the  Ashvins  w^ith  the  morning  twi- 
Hght,  we  find  in  this  thoroughly  Vedic  riddle : 
"  When  the  dark  cow  [Night]  sits  among  the  ruddy 
cows  [the  rays  of  the  Dawn],  I  invoke  you,  Ashvins, 
Sons  of  the  Sky,"  i.  e.,  "  when  night  has  not  quite 
gone  and  morning  is  just  coming."  Possibly  it  was 
this  text  which  clinched  the  question  for  Yaska,  one 
of  the  great  native  commentators,  who  in  his  catalogue 
raisonne  of  Vedic  deities  (the  Nirukta),  after  men- 
tioning the  opinions  of  other  students,  gives  as  his 
own  that 

"  Their  time  is  after  the  (latter)  half  of  the  night  when  the  (space's) 
becoming  light  is  resisted  (by  darkness)  ;  for  the  middlemost  Ashvin, 
(the  one  between  darkness  and  light)  shares  in  darkness,  whilst  (the 
other)  who  is  of  a  solar  nature — ddiiya — shares  in  light." ' 

This  also  explains  why  there  should  be  tivo 
Ashvins,  twins.  For  twilight,  the  well-named,  is  of 
a  complicated  and  essentially  dual  nature  :  4)e- 
ginning  in  darkness,  ending  in  light.  Hence,  too, 
there  is  a  difference  between  the  brothers.  Yaska, 
in  the  passage  partly  quoted  above,  says  that  "  one 
[of  course  the  elder]  pervades  everything  with  moist- 
ure, the  other  with  light."  Again,  one  is  a  hero 
and  conqueror  (he  who  stands  the  brunt  of  the  first 
fight  with  darkness),  and  the  other  is  the  wealthy, 
fortunate  Son  of  the  Sky  (whose  time  is  when  the 
fight  is  won,  of  which  good  news  he  is  the  bearer, 

*  Translation  of  Professor  Goldstiicker.  The  words  in  parentheses 
are  put  in  by  the  translator  to  relieve  the,  to  us,  obscure  conciseness 
of  the  Sanskrit  original. 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  233 

while  the  treasures  of  returning  Hght  begin  to  be 
revealed).  Still  the  two  moments  are  so  close  to- 
gether that  the  twins  are  regarded  as  inseparable, 
and  compared  to  all  sorts  of  things  which  go  in 
pairs — the  two  eyes,  the  two  ears,  the  two  breasts, 
a  bird  and  his  mate,  two  wheels,  etc.,  etc.  In  the 
course  of  time,  a  certain  spirit  of  symmetry  asserts 
itself,  and  the  ritual  decrees  that  the  Ashvins  shall 
be  invoked  twice,  morning  and  evening,  making 
them  to  personate  both  the  twilight  before  sunrise 
and  that  after  sunset — though  in  express  contradic- 
tion to  the  following  text  (V.,  'j'],  2) :  "  Invoke  the 
Ashvins  in  the  morning;  the  evening  is  not  the  time 
for  gods — it  is  displeasing  to  them  "  (naturally,  since 
the  gods  are  devas,  "  bright  ").  It  will  be  seen  how 
easily  this  could  lead  to  identify  the  Twins,  one  with 
the  morning  twilight,  the  other  with  the  evening 
twilight, — and  even  wath  Day  and  Night, — which 
has  been  done  repeatedly,  contrary  to  the  very 
essence  of  the  myth,  which  makes  them  inseparable, 
not  alternate.  Ritualism  at  last  prevails  entirely, 
and  we  find— still  in  the  Rig-Veda — a  third  invoca- 
tion of  the  Ashvins  at  noon,  evidently  in  accord 
with  the  three  daily  offerings.  This  is  the  beginning 
of  confusion,  and  affords  us  at  the  same  time  a 
glimpse  of  the  stratification  of  periods  in  the  Rig- 
Veda — like  that  in  the  Avesta — resulting  in  the 
obliteration,  or  at  least  blurring,  of  the  original  con- 
ceptions. 

36.  Once  we  have  succeeded  in  determining  the 
elementary  nature  of  the  joy-bringing  Twins,  we  also 
have  the  key  to  their  various  acts  and  deeds,  which 


234  VEDIC  INDIA. 

are  always  gracious  and  beneficent,  wherein  they 
differ  widely  from  most  other  gods.  They  are 
invariably  mild,  helpful,  merciful.  They  are  the 
great  Physicians,  who  heal  the  sick,  make  the  lame 
to  walk,  the  blind  to  see.  But  their  patients  are 
always  the  same:  the  Old  Sun,  who  reaches  the  goal 
of  his  long  day's  journey  weary  and  sick  unto  death 
— when  the  foe  he  has  fought  and  vanquished,  grim 
Darkness,  at  last  overcomes  and  blinds  him — and 
who  is  made  young  again  and  vigorous,  and  seeing, 
by  the  returning  light  which  the  Ashvins — the  morn- 
ing twilight — conquer  and  bring  ;  or  else  it  is  the 
Old  Dawn — the  evening  gloaming — who  runs  the 
same  dangers,  undergoes  the  same  infirmities  and  de- 
cay, and  is  led  forth,  rejuvenated  and  radiant,  by  her 
ever  youthful  brothers.  They  are  best  men  at  wed- 
dings, protectors  of  love  and  marriage,  because  they 
bring  the  Dawn-bride  before  the  face  of  her  Sun- 
lover,  or  reunite  the  separated  lovers.  On  one 
occasion,  indeed,  Ushas  is  said  to  have  mounted  on 
the  Ashvins'  car — (was  it  not  on  the  memorable 
occasion  when  her  own  was  shattered  by  the  un- 
gallant  Indra?) — and  to  have  chosen  them  for  her 
husbands. — They  are  rescuers  from  stormy  waters, 
because  night  is  a  dark  and  stormy  waste  of  waters, 
full  of  dangers  and  monsters,  into  which  the  worn- 
out  Sun  fatally  sinks,  and  in  which  he  might  perish, 
did  not  the  ever  helpful  heralds  of  Light  take  him 
into  their  swiftly  flying  ship  and  carry  him  safely 
across  to  the  other — the  bright — shore,  from  which 
he  rises  aloft,  in  fully  restored  vigor  and  splendor. — 
And  will  not  those  who  do  all  these  kindly  ofifices, 


THE   STORM-MYTH.  235 

who  work  these  miracles  for  gods,  do  the  same  for 
suppHant  men  ?  We  know  that  every  myth  ends  by 
coming  down  to  earth  and  being  humanized.  It 
will  strike  every  one  how  many  and  varied  stories 
could  and  must  have  been  spun  out  of  this  pecu- 
liarly attractive  and  prolific  myth  of  the  Ashvins. 

37.  We  cannot  close  the  gallery  of  the  V-edic 
Beings  of  Light  without  devoting  a  few  lines  to  one 
who,  though  holding  a  rather  modest  rank,  shares  in 
their  honors,  and  is  always  affectionately  and  rever- 
ently remembered.  We  mean  PUSHAN,  pre-emi- 
nently a  friend  of  men,  and  whose  career  is  one  of 
almost  homely  usefulness.  The  great  French  Vedic 
scholar,  A.  Bergaigne,  sums  it  up  in  one  brief  page, 
so  lucid  and  comprehensive,  that  we  cannot  do  better 
than  reproduce  it : 

"  Pushan  is,  first  of  all,  a  pastoral  and  agricultural  deity.  He  is 
requested  to  direct  the  furrow  ;  his  hand  is  armed  with  the  ox-goad  ; 
he  is  principally  the  guardian  of  cattle,  who  prevents  them  from 
straying,  and  finds  them  again  when  they  get  lost.  He  is,  therefore, 
prayed  to  follow  the  cows,  to  look  after  them,  to  keep  theni  from 
harm,  to  bring  them  home  safe  and  sound.  His  care  extends  to  all 
sorts  of  property,  which  he  guards  or  finds  again  when  lost.  He  is 
also  the  finder  of  hidden  treasure, — cows  first  on  the  list,  always. 
Lastly,  Pushan  guides  men,  not  only  in  their  search  for  lost  or  hidden 
things,  but  on  all  their  ways  generally.  In  a  word,  he  is  the  god  of 
wayfarers  as  well  as  of  husbandmen  and  herdsmen.  He  is  called 
'  Lord  of  the  Path,'  he  is  prayed  to  '  lay  out  the  roads,'  to  remove 
from  them  foes  and  hindrances,  to  guide  his  worshippers  by  the  safest 
roads,  as  'knowing  all  the  abodes.'     ..." 

A  very  human  field  of  action — almost  a  picture  of 
rural  life.  But  all  the  foregoing  pages  have  been 
written  to  little  purpose,  if  it  does  not   strike   the 


236  VEDIC  INDIA. 

reader  at  once  that  it  is  a  reflection  of  the  usual 
heavenly  pastoral, — itself,  of  course,  originally  copied 
from  the  earthly  model.  We  are,  by  this  time,  suf- 
ficiently familiar  with  the  aerial  pastures  and  roads, 
along  which  the  heavenly  cattle — whether  Cloud- 
Kine  or  Kine  of  Light — roam  and  stray,  get  stolen 
or  lost,  and  are  found  again.  So  do  we  know  who 
they  are  that  guard,  and  follow,  and  find  them,  and 
bring  them  back.  But  not  these  alone  are  heaven's 
"hidden  treasure."  Agni  lies  hidden  and  is  found, 
and  so  is  Soma,  whom  Pushan  is  expressly  said  to 
have  brought  back  "  like  a  strayed  ox  "  ;  and  imme- 
diately :  "  Pushan,  abounding  in  rays,  found  the 
king,  who  lay  hidden,  and  who  now  shines  forth  on 
the  sacrificial  grass."  This  at  once  establishes 
Pushan's  claim  to  a  place  in  the  highest  heavens,  at 
the  very  source  of  light  itself.  It  is  there  that  he  is 
the  lover  of  his  sister  Surya,  the  Sun-maiden,  and 
sails  his  golden  ships  across  the  aerial  ocean. 

So  much  for  this  gentle  deity's  naturalistic  aspects. 
His  loftier  symbolical  character  will  become  appar- 
ent in  connection  with  a  different — and  later  devel- 
oped— order  of  ideas.' 

*  See  A.  Bergaigne,  La  Religion  VMique,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  420-430. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  RIG-VEDA:   LESSER  AND   LATER  GODS. — STORY 
MYTHS. 

I.  Classification,  on  the  whole,  is  unsatisfactory. 
The  worst  of  it  is,  the  things  classified  won't  dove- 
tail nicely,  but  are  sure  to  overlap  both  ways  or  to 
fall  short.  Yet,  when  one  has  on  hand  an  over- 
whelming mass  of  material,  and  is,  moreover,  limited 
to  a  scant  selection  from  it,  one  would  flounder 
helplessly  without  the  assistance  of  such  a  guide, 
even  though  it  be  lame  and  to  some  extent  mis- 
leading. This  is  a  disadvantage  under  which  all 
great  subjects  labor.  And  of  all  great  subjects 
there  is  none  both  vaster  and  more  complex  than 
the  Rig-Veda ;  none  that  grows  and  expands  more 
bewilderingly  under  handling ;  none  that  more 
elusively  resists  classification  and — to  use  a  very 
modern  yet  already  somewhat  trite  expression — 
popularization.  For  popularization  means  :  present- 
ing the  results  of  the  work  of  specialists  in  an  un- 
technical  form,  intelligible  and  attractive  to  the 
large  mass  of  average,  general  readers.  And  how 
are  "  results "  to  be  presented  where  so  very  few 
have  been  finally  established  ?  in  a  branch  of  learn- 

237 


238  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ing  which  is  in  the  very  fervor  of  research,  discovery, 
comparing  theories,  correcting  errors  or  hasty  con- 
clusions,— so  that  it  is  a  current  saying  among 
brethren  of  the  craft  that  no  book  on  Ancient  India 
can  reach  its  last  chapter  without  the  first  ones  being 
rewritten/  Method,  therefore,  is,  after  all,  the  best 
safeguard,  and  careful  sorting  and  sifting — classify- 
ing in  short  ;  under  reservation  and  with  frequent 
qualifying  of  one's  own  definitions. 

2.  To  begin  with  the  title  of  this  chapter.  It 
should  be  well  understood  that  the  adjectives  "  lesser 
and  later  "  are  not  meant  to  apply  to  one  and  the 
same  deities,  or  at  least  not  always.  The  more  a 
divine  person  goes  into  abstraction,  and  the  farther 
it  becomes  removed  from  the  natural  phenomenon 
which  it  originally  represented,  or  the  more  it  accen- 
tuates certain  details  of  that  phenomenon,  the  later, 
as  a  rule,  we  can  place  it.  Thus  the  high  moral  con- 
ception of  the  Sky-god  Varuna  cannot  but  have 
been  evolved  out  of  that  of  the  primeval  Dyaus,  the 
material  visible  sky.  Again,  when  we  meet  three 
goddesses  (very  subordinate  and  rarely  mentioned 
in  the  hymns),  representing  the  three  phases  of  the 
moon — the  growing,  the  full,  and  the  waning, — we 
may  be  very  sure  that  the  worship  of  the  moon  itself 
preceded  them.  Though  of  course  it  is  never  pos- 
sible  even    to    suggest   a    particular  time  for  such 

'  The  truth  of  this  saying  the  author  can  vouch  for  from  experi- 
ence. Such  scholars  as  may  glance  at  the  present  volume  and  be 
inclined  to  fault-finding,  will  therefore  please  consider  that,  with  the 
best-meant  efforts  to  "  keep  up  to  date,"  a  book,  to  be  a  book,  must 
be  printed  some  time,  and  by  that  fact,  in  the  present  case,  of  neces- 
sity fall  behind. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  239 

evolution  where  there  is  absolutely  no  chronology — 
or  at  least  the  nearest  approach  we  can  make  to  one 
is  to  conclude,  from  internal  evidence  alone,  that 
such  or  such  parts  of  the  Rig-Veda,  such  or  such 
hymns,  deities,  conceptions,  are  "  very  early," 
"  early,"  "  later,"  "  very  late,"  within  the  period — 
unknown  to  us  with  any  precision,  but  certainly  em- 
bracing several,  probably  many,  centuries — covered 
by  the  collection.  Superlatives,  like  "  earliest  and 
latest,"  are  out  of  the  question  where  the  limit 
escapes  us  at  either  end. 

3.  As  to  the  designation,  "  lesser  gods,"  it  requires 
to  be  qualified  even  more.  In  the  first  place,  by 
what  standards  do  we  know  the  lesser  from  the 
greater?  We  have  only  one,  a  very  simple  one:  the 
place  each  occupies  in  the  Rig-Veda — the  number  of 
hymns  addressed  to  each,  the  frequency  with  which 
a  given  deity  is  mentioned  in  hymns  addressed  to 
others.  It  seems  a  crude  standard  ;  yet  on  the  whole 
it  is  not  deceptive.  Judged  by  it,  Indra,  Agni,  Soma, 
at  once  stand  out  as  the  three  kings  of  the  Vedic 
Pantheon —  and  so  they  are.  It  would  seem  as  though 
the  tone  of  the  hymns — the  degree  of  fervor  in  the 
invocations  and  praise,  the  qualities  and  power 
ascribed  to  the  different  deities,  should  go  for  some- 
thing in  deciding  such  a  question  ;  but  they  hardly 
do,  on  account  of  the  way  the  old  Rishis  have,  as 
already  noticed,  of  exalting  the  god  they  address, 
for  the  moment,  above  all  the  others,  and  ascribing 
to  all  in  turn  the  same  greater  cosmical  functions,  such 
as  spreading  out  the  heavens,  supporting  the  universe, 
keeping  apart  heaven,  earth,   etc.,  even  to  creating 


240  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Other  gods,  or,  at  all  events,  being  first  among  them. 
The  other  standard,  therefore,  is  the  safest.  But  it 
stands  only  for  the  time,  whatever  that  was,  when 
the  selection  of  the  hymns  was  made,  and — to  borrow 
a  word  from  other  theologies — the  canon  of  the  Rig- 
Veda  was  established.  That  time  was  preceded  by  a 
past  which  we  have  no  means  of  fathoming,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  future  as  vast,  in  which  the  religion  of 
the  Rig-Veda  was  to  pass  through  all  the  evolutions 
of  Brahmanism  and  Hinduism.  Some  of  the  persons 
and  myths  of  the  Vedic  Pantheon,  therefore,  are  very 
old,  while  some  again  are  just  beginning  to  assert 
themselves.  To  the  former  class,  probably,  belong 
among  others  Parjanya  and  Rudra.  If  so,  the  great- 
ness of  Rudra,  as  we  saw,  is  in  abeyance  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  but  it  was  to  rise  again  and  reach  a  higher 
climax  than  ever,  when  he  became  the  dread  Shiva — 
the  Destroyer — of  the  great  Brahmanic  Triad. 

4.  Of  the  second  class  the  most  notable  is  ViSHNU,  a 
solar  deity  and  form  of  Agni,  who  holds  a  very  modest 
place  in  the  Rig-Veda,  where  he  appears  as  a  friend 
and  comrade  of  Indra,  stands  by  his  side  at  the  kill- 
ing of  Vritra,  and  helps  him  to  "  open  the  stable 
and  let  out  the  cows."  One  peculiar  trait  is  attached 
to  him,  and  mentioned  whenever  he  is  addressed  or 
spoken  of:  he  is  the  god  of  the  three  strides.  Purely 
naturalistic  interpreters  think  of  the  expression  as  re- 
ferring to  the  strides  of  the  Sun-god  to  the  three 
stations  of  his  course,  at  morning,  noon,  and  evening. 
But  closer  study  shows  that  there  is  a  far  deeper 
significance  behind  the  seemingly  simple  myth — the 
three  strides  of    Vishnu  cover  or    pervade,    earth, 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  24 1 

heaven,  and  the  highest  world  of  all,  invisible  to 
mortals,  as  clearly  intimated  by  the  verse  :  "  We  can 
from  the  earth  know  two  of  thy  spaces ;  thou  alone, 
O  Vishnu,  knowest  thine  own  highest  abode  "  (VII., 
99,  i).  However  that  may  be,  nothing  in  the  Rig- 
Veda  presages  the  coming  greatness  of  the  god,  the 
future  second  person — the  Preserver — of  the  Brah- 
manic  Triad,  the  rival  of  Shiva  in  the  devotion  of 
millions  of  worshippers,  till  all  Brahmanic  India 
became  divided  into  two  immense  and  fanatical  sects, 
the  Shivites  and  the  Vishnuites.  It  appears,  how. 
ever,  that  the  earliest  beginnings  of  these  sects  may 
be  faintly  traced  as  far  back  as  the  Rig- Veda,  from 
a  passage  in  one  of  the  so-called  historical  hymns 
which  relate  the  early  struggles  and  wars  of  the  Pen- 
jab  Aryas/ 

5.  The  god — Savitar — to  whom  is  addressed  the 
Gayatri,  the  most  holy  text  in  the  whole  Rig-Veda, 
to  this  day  the  daily  prayer  of  millions  of  human 
beings — cannot  properly  be  classed  among  the 
"lesser  gods  "  ;  but  that  he  belongs  among  the  later 
ones  is  shown  by  the  complexity  and  by  certain 
abstruse  aspects  of  his  being.  That  he  is  first  and 
foremost  a  solar  deity  goes  without  saying.  But 
a  very  puzzling  fact  about  him  is  that  he  is  some- 
times identified  with  the  sun — Surya, — and  some- 
times expressly  distinguished  from  him — or  it. 
Savitar  is,  as  Muir  says,  "pre-eminently  the  golden 
deity  " — golden-eyed,  golden-armed,  golden-handed, 
driving  a  golden  car  along  ancient,  dustless  paths, 
beautifully    laid    out    through     space.      There    are 

'  See  ch.  viii.,  p.  303. 
16 


242  VEDIC  INDIA. 

passages  in  which  the  two  names — Savitar  or  Surya — 
are  used  convertibly  and  indiscriminately ;  for  in- 
stance :  "  God  Savitar  raised  his  banner  high,  pro- 
viding hght  for  all  the  world  ;  Surya  has  filled  earth 
and  heaven  and-  the  vast  'middle  region'  {anta- 
riksha,  the  atmosphere)  with  beams,"  They  are 
unmistakably  separated  when  Surya  is  called  Savitar's 
beautiful  bird  (IV.,  14,  2) ;  or  Savitar  is  said  to  be 
"  invested  with  the  rays  of  Surya,"  or  to  "  bring 
Surya."  Surya  of  course,  in  such  cases,  is  to  be  taken 
as  a  common  noun,  standing  for  the  material  sun, 
and  Savitar  assumes  towards  it  the  relation  of  a 
higher  being  directing  its  movements,  disposing  of 
and  distributing  its  light. 

6.  Another  peculiarity  of  Savitar  is  that  he  repre- 
sents not  only  the  bright  sun  of  the  golden  day,  but 
also  the  invisible  sun  of  night,  i.e.,  the  sun  in  the 
mysterious,  invisible  land  between  West  and  East. 
He  is  associated  as  much  with  Hght  as  with  darkness 
— the  friendly  darkness  that  brings  repose  and  sleep 
to  all  that  breathes.  There  are  indeed  hints  of  the 
kind  in  the  descriptions  of  Surya,  whose  mares,  "  the 
Harits,  draw  without  end  now  the  bright  light  and 
now  the  dark  "  (I.,  1 15,  5),  and  who  seems  to  have 
a  night-horse,  which  reverses  the  course  of  his 
chariot '  ;  but  they  are  few  and  vague  ;  while  the 
semi-diurnal,  semi-nocturnal  nature  of  Savitar  is  one 
of  that  deity's  essential  characteristics.  Those  out- 
stretched hands  of  his,  which  shower  light  upon  the 
worlds,  also  "  firmly  guide  the  starry   host  "  ;  after 

'  See  the  chapter  on  Etasha  (the  horse  in  question)  in  A.  Ber- 
gaigne's  La  Religion  V^dique,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  330-333. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  243 

arousing  all  creatures  in  the  morning — "  those  with 
two  feet  and  with  four  " — they  bring  them  to  rest 
in  the  evening.  In  all  the  hymns  addressed  to 
this  god,  which  are  held  in  a  peculiarly  noble  and 
lofty  strain,  this  great  and  beneficent  function  of 
his  is  gratefully  mentioned. 

"  He  who  hastens  hither  through  the  dark  aerial  space,  who  lays 
to  rest  whatever  mortal  is,  or  immortal,  God  Savitar  on  his  golden 
chariot  comes  towards  us,  surveying  all  creatures."     (I.,  35,  2.) 

"...  Where  is  Surya  now?  Who  knows  it?  Over  which 
heaven  do  his  rays  extend  ?  "     (I.,  35,  7.) 

"With  golden  hands  comes  hastening  Savitar  the  god,  pursuing 
busily  his  work  'twixt  heaven  and  earth  ;  he  drives  away  oppression, 
leads  Siirya  forth,  through  the  dark  realm  of  air  he  hastens  up  to 
heaven."     (I.,  35,  9.) 

Here  we  see  that,  when  Savitar  comes  in  the  even- 
ing, the  sun  becomes  invisible  and  shines  on  some 
other  world ;  when  he  comes  in  the  morning,  he 
brings  back  the  sun.  The  difference  between  the 
two  deities  is  made  very  plain,  and  we  can  best  sum 
it  up  by  saying  that  though,  in  translating,  "  Surya  " 
can  always  be  rendered  by  "  the  Sun,"  "Savitar" 
cannot. 

The  "  Evening  Hymn  "  to  Savitar  (II.,  38)  is  one 
of  the  finest  in  the  collection. 

"  .  .  .  .  2. — The  god  his  mighty  hands,  his  arms  outstretches  in 
heaven  above,  and  all  things  here  obey  him  ;  to  his  commands  the 
waters  are  attentive,  and  even  the  rushing  wind  subsides  before  him. 
3. — Driving  his  steeds,  now  he  removes  the  harness  and  bids  the  wan- 
derer rest  him  from  his  journey  ;  he  checks  the  serpent-smiter's  '  eager 
onset ;  at  Savitar's  command  the  kindly  night  comes.  4. — The  weaver 
rolls  her  growing  web  together,  and  in  the  midst  the  workman  leaves 

'  A  bird  of  prey. 


244  VEDIC  INDIA. 

his  labors  ;  the  god  arises  and  divides  the  time,  [night  from  day], — 
God  Savitar  appears,  the  never-resting.  5. — In  every  place  where 
mortals  have  their  dwelling,  the  house-fire  far  and  wide  sheds  forth 
its  radiance,  the  mother  gives  her  son  the  fairest  portion,  because  the 
god  has  given  him  desire  to  eat.  6. — Now  he  returns  who  had  gone 
forth  for  profit  ;  for  home  the  longing  wanderer's  heart  is  yearning, 
and  each,  his  task  half  finished,  homeward  journeys  :  this  is  the 
heavenly  Inciter's  ordinance.  .  .  .  8. — The  restless  darting 
fish,  at  fall  of  evening,  seeks  where  he  may  his  refuge  in  the  waters  • 
his  nest  the  egg-born  seeks,  their  stall  the  cattle;  each  in  its  place, 
the  god  divides  the  creatures."  ' 

7.  So  far  the  hymn  might  be  addressed  to  the 
visible  sun,  "  to  him  who  clothes  himself  in  all  colors  " 
when  he  climbs  up  the  heights  of  heaven,  and  "  wraps 
himself  in  a  brown-red  mantle  "  as  he  descends  from 
them  ;  but  Savitar  is  decidedly  the  invisible  nocturnal 
sun,  when  the  poet  expressly  says :  '*  Thou  dost 
journey  through  the  night  from  West  to  East." 
Yet  all  this  transparent  naturalism  by  no  means  ex- 
hausts the  complex  and  somewhat  mystical  personal- 
ity of  this  god.     He  has  also  a  lofty  moral  side  ;  for 

*  From  the  German  translation  in  Kaegi  and  Geldner's  Siebenzig 
Lieder  des  Rig-  Veda,  English  version  of  R.  Arrowsmith  in  the  Eng- 
lish edition  of  Kaegi's  Rig-  Veda. — Many  readers  will  probably  be 
struck  by  the  great  similarity,  not  only  in  the  spirit,  but  even  in  the 
separate  images,  of  this  hymn,  and  the  lovely  Greek  poem  beginning 
"  Hespere,  panta  fereis,"  which  has  been  so  beautifully  paraphrased 
by  Byron  in  a  famous  stanza  of  Don  yuan  (Canto  III.,  cvii.) : 
O  Hesperus  !  thou  bringest  all  good  things — 

Home  to  the  weary,  to  the  hungry  cheer, 
To  the  young  bird  the  parents'  brooding  wings. 

The  welcome  stall  to  the  o'erlabor'd  steer  ; 
Whate'er  of  peace  about  our  hearthstone  clings, 
Whate'er  our  household  gods  protect  of  dear. 
Are  gather'd  round  us  by  thy  look  of  rest ; 
Thou  bring'st  the  child,  too,  to  the  mother's  breast. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  245 

while  Surya  is  only  asked  to  "declare  men  sinless" 
before  the  Adityas,  Savitar  is  implored  by  the  repent- 
ant sinner  in  strains  exactly  similar  to  those  ad- 
dressed to  the  great  Aditya,  Vdruna  himself. 

"  Whatever  offence  we  may  have  committed  against  the  race  of 
gods,  through  feebleness  of  understanding,  or  through  violence  after 
the  manner  of  men — against  gods  and  also  against  men, — in  spite  of 
all,  O  Savitar,  take  from  us  the  sin."     (IV.,  54,  3.) 

Considered  all  in  all,  and  taking  into  account  also 
the  etymology  of  the  name,  /.  c,  the  meaning  of  the 
root  from  which  it  is  derived  and  which  is  constantly 
alluded  to  in  the  characteristic  epithets — Inciter, 
Enlivener,  and  the  like — bestowed  on  the  god,  Savi- 
tar appears  to  represent  pre-eminently  the  life-giving, 
generative  force  of  nature,  chiefly,  but  not  exclu- 
sively, as  manifested  in  the  action  of  the  sun.  These 
qualities  would  easily  be  transferred  to  the  spiritual 
world,  when  Savitar  would  naturally  become  the 
Enlightener,  the  quickener  of  the  spirit,  who,  as  he 
wakes  all  creatures  to  life  and  work,  also  wakes  up 
the  intellect,  the  moral  faculties  of  men.  This  view 
also  fully  justifies  such  lofty  epithets  as  "Lord  of 
Creatures  yprajdpati\  having  [and  perhaps  giving] 
all  forms  "  {vishvartlpd),  which  it  would  be  dif^cult  to 
fit  to  a  mere  solar  deity.'  As  the  worship  of  Fire 
in  all  its  visible  and  invisible  forms  and  abodes  is 
really  at  the  bottom  of  the  Vedic  religion,  and  the 
Sun  itself  is  at  times  regarded  only  as  one  of  its  forms, 
Savitar  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  more  or  less  identified 
with   him,  either   as  Sun    or  as    Lightning.     Many 

*  Even  Savitar's  golden  chariot  is  said  to  hQvishvaritpa,  omniform. 


246  VEDIC  INDIA. 

passages  point  to  this  abstruser  mystical  doctrine,  as 
well  as  the  name  of  Apam  Napat  (Child  of  the 
Waters) — Agni's  own  surname — which  is  given  him 
more  than  once.  His  connection  with  Soma  and 
the  Soma  sacrifice  is  also  beyond  doubt,  and  he 
is  said  to  have  given  immortality  to  the  gods. 
The  heavenly  Soma  being  no  other  than  the  avirita 
or  drink  of  immortality,  this  well  accords  with  the 
nature  of  a  vivifier  and  creator. 

8.  There  is  a  remarkable  Verse  (III.,  55,  19)  which 
gives  us  the  following  startling  combination  : 

"  TVASHTAR  Savitar,  the  god  of  many  forms  \vishvarilpd\,  has 
produced  and  nourished  all  creatures,  and  all  these  beings  are  his 
own.  .  .  .  He  created  both  the  world-cups,  [heaven  and  earth]  ; 
all  they  are  both  filled  with  is  his  own." 

In  this  passage  (and  in  one  other  where  they 
appear  joined  together  in  the  same  way),  one  of 
these  names  would  seem  to  be  an  epithet  of  the 
other,  or  else  they  are  identical,  i.  e.,  two  names 
of  one  and  the  same  person.  Yet  Tvashtar  in  all 
other  cases  stands  out  alone  as  an  independent, 
though  not  very  clearly  characterized,  deity.  He 
has  been  called  somewhat  sweepingly  "  the  artificer 
of  the  gods,"  and  that  certainly  covers  one  side  of 
his  nature  to  which  his  name  alludes,  as  it  is  said 
to  be  derived,  with  a  slight  alteration,  from  a  root 
meaning  "  to  make,  to  construct."  He  is  seldom 
mentioned  in  the  hymns  without  some  such  epithet 
as  "skilful-handed,"  "most  cunning  workman,"  and 
the  like.  For  it  was  Tvashtar  who  forged  Indra's 
thunderbolt,  the  golden,  with  a  thousand  points  and 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  247 

a  hundred  edges,  and  who  sharpened  the  axe  of 
another  god,  Brahmanaspati,  the  "  Lord  of 
Prayer";  it  is  he,  "the  omniform,"  who  gives  their 
shapes  to  all  living  things,  even  to  the  unborn  young 
of  men  and  animals ;  he  also  knows  the  art  of  making 
the  best  cups  from  which  the  gods  drink  the  Soma ; 
especially,  he  fashioned  one  wonderful  sacrificial  cup 
which  was  his  pride  of  workmanship  and  with  which 
he  had  a  peculiar  experience. 

9.  There  were  three  brothers,  the  RiBHUS — some 
say  pupils  of  Tvashtar — who  rivalled  him  in  skill. 
They  had  fashioned  Indra's  chariot  and  horses,  and 
the  Ashvins'  three-wheeled  chariot ;  they  had  re- 
juvenated the  wonderful  cow  which  produces  all 
things  at  will ;  nay,  they  made  "  the  two  Old  Ones," 
their  "  two  parents,"  young  again.  But  they  were 
not  gods  ;  only  pious  men  and  sacrificers.  Once 
Agni,  the  messenger  of  the  gods,  came  to  them  and 
gave  them  this  message  :  "  Ye  are  to  make  four  cups 
out  of  the  one ;  this  is  why  I  come  hither.  If  ye 
perform  this,  ye  will  receive  equal  honors  with  the 
gods."  They  did  perform  the  astounding  feat,  where- 
upon they  boldly  drove  to  heaven  in  their  chariot,  to 
"  gracious  Savitar's  abode,"  where  they  received  from 
him  the  gift  of  immortality,  and  consequently  the 
right  to  partake  of  the  heavenly  Soma  and  to  be  in- 
vited to  men's  Soma-sacrifices.  But  Tvashtar  was 
incensed  at  the  liberty  taken  with  his  greatest  work 
and  chose  to  consider  it  a  sacrilege ;  he  even  pro- 
posed to  the  gods  to  "  kill  these  men  "  (of  course 
before  they  had  yet  tasted  the  anirita),  and  was  so 
mortified  when  his  malice  was  baffled,  that  he  slunk 


248  VEDIC  INDIA. 

away  and  hid  himself  among  "  the  gods'  wives  "  (I., 
no  and  161). 

10.  "  Of  what  was  made  that  one  cup  out  of  which 
you  cunningly  fashioned  four?"  This  direct  ques- 
tion is  asked  by  one  of  the  Rig  poets  (IV.,  35,  4). 
It  has  been,  and  still  is,  asked  by  our  scholars.  But 
answered — that  is  another  matter.  The  difficulty  is 
in  this  case  particularly  great,  because  the  person- 
ality of  Tvashtar  is  almost  too  much  blurred  for 
recognition.  He  is  evidently  a  very  ancient  god, 
fallen  from  his  high  estate,  with  a  cycle  of  myths 
hopelessly  incomplete  and  mutilated,  and  partly  de- 
formed by  later  rehandling.  Still  it  is  said  that 
"  out  of  the  clash  of  opinions  springeth  light  "  ;  and 
after  careful  comparison  of  a  score  of  interpretations, 
differing  in  some  points,  agreeing  in  others,  the  fol- 
lowing may  be  ventured  upon  as  coming  probably 
near  to  the  mark,  because  offering  a  comparatively 
unstrained  construction  of  the  remarkable  myth  of 
Tvashtar  and  the  Ribhus,  and  fitting  tolerably  well 
the  various  passages  which  touch  on  it. 

11.  Tvashtar-Savitar-Vishvarupa — "the  Om- 
niform  *  Maker  and  Vivifier " — was  originally  one 
divine  person.  Then — and  this  is  a  common  and 
universal  process  of  mythological  multiplication — 
the  single  but  threefold  designation  split  itself  into 
three  separate  ones.  Men  invoked  now  Tvashtar, 
now  Savitar,  till  their  original  oneness  was  wellnigh 
obliterated  ;  even  Vishvarupa — "  omniform  "  or 
"  multiform  " — though  an  epithet  not  unfrequently 

*  "  Omniform  "  not  only  in  the  sense  of  assuming  all  forms,  but  of 
giving  them,  being,  in  Muir's  words,  the  arch-type  of  all  forms. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  249 

bestowed  on  various  deities,  such  as  Agni,  Soma, 
Indra,  took  an  individuality  of  its  own  and  became 
a  son  of  Tvashtar  who  tends  his  cattle,  and  is  one 
of  Indra's  most  hated  enemies.  This  is  how  things 
stand  in  the  Rig- Veda,  where  only  two  passages,  by 
giving  the  complete  combination  of  three  names, 
revive  an  all  but  obliterated  memory.'  It  is  proba- 
ble that  Tvashtar-Savitar  was  a  Sky-god,  whereupon 
Savitar  retained  all  the  gracious,  vivifying  qualities 
of  a  heavenly  power  specially  connected  with  the 
beneficent  Sun,  while  Tvashtar  became  his  counter- 
part and  represented  the  stern,  baleful,  and  threat- 
ening aspects  of  the  heavens,  standing  to  Savitar 
much  as  Rudra  to  Varuna  (see  p.  209).''  Under 
this  explanation  it  appears  qu;te  natural  that  Tvash- 
tar should  be  the  special — and  morose,  grudging — 
keeper  of  the  heavenly  Soma.  The  sacrificial  cup 
which  he  makes  for  the  gods  is,  therefore,  most 
probably — the  Moon,  "  the  bright  bowl  of  Soma  " 
(see  p.  180).  The  Ribhus  are  the  genii  of  the  Sea- 
sons. It  is  very  possible  that  originally  there  was 
also  only  one  Ribhu — the  Year,  who  then  easily  split 
himself  into  three  brothers — the  three  seasons ;  for 
the  Vedic  Aryas  divided  the  year  into  only  three 
seasons — the  rainy,  the  hot,  and  the  fall.  The  Rib- 
hus' great  feat  consisted  in  dividing  the  one  Soma 

'  Hillebrandt  {Vedisc/ie  Myihologie,  i.,  p.  514)  remarks  of  Tvash- 
tar: "  All  that  is  said  of  him  warrants  the  supposition  that  we  have 
before  us  the  ruins  of  a  large  cycle  of  myths,  which,  having  been 
originated  outside  of  the  Rig- Veda  tribes,  did  not  greatly  arouse  their 
interest." 

"  May  not,  at  some  untraceable  time,  the  three  names  together  have 
been  joint  descriptive  predicates  of  the  primeval  Sky-god,  Dyaus  ? 


250  VEDIC  INDIA. 

bowl  into  four — the  phases  of  the  moon  :  the  grow- 
ing, the  full,  the  waning,  and  the  dark.'  The  fin- 
ishing touch  to  this  myth  is  the  twelve  days'  rest 
which  they  took  "  in  the  house  of  Savitar."  These 
are  the  tvvelve  intercalary  days  added  by  the  early 
Indian  astronomers  to  the  354  days  of  the  lunar 
year,  at  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice,"  a  period  of 
rest  during  which  the  sun  and  the  seasons  them- 
selves seem  to  stand  still,  awaiting  the  beginning  of 
the  new  year,  when  they  commence  their  work,  "  pro- 
ducing vegetation  on  the  mountains  and  waters  in 
the  valleys."  The  other  magic  feats  of  the  Ribhus 
are  as  easily  explained.  It  is  the  seasons  that  fashion 
Indra's  chariot  and  horses,  for  the  great  thunder- 
storms come  only  at  certain  times  of  the  year;  they 
restore  the  youth  of  their  old  parents,  Heaven  and 
Earth  ;  likewise  that  of  the  ever-productive  cow — 
the  Earth.  As  to  Vishvarupa,  a  monster  with  three 
heads,  which  are  all  struck  off  by  Indra,  he  clearly 
represents  the  "  omniform  "  clouds,  which  may  well 
be  the  offspring  of  the  Sky  regarded  as  a  malignant 
being,  an  evil  magician. 

12.  But  it  is  not  only  in  the  person  of  his  son  that 
Tvashtar  experiences  Indra's  hostility.  He  is  him- 
self the  object  of  it,  chiefly  as  the  grudging  keeper  of 

*  This  is  the  explanation  of  Hillebrandt  ;  only  he  makes  out  Tvash- 
tar to  be  the  moon  itself.  Ludwig,  on  the  other  hand,  agrees  with 
him  about  the  Ribhus  being  the  seasons,  but  he  sees  in  Tvashtar  the 
sun,  and  the  cup  to  him  is  the  year,  which  the  Ribhus  divide  into  the 
four  seasons.  It  will  be  seen  that  neither  of  these  theories  "  fits" 
so  well  as  a  whole  and  in  details  as  that  given  in  the  text. 

*  The  solar  year  of  365  days  was  introduced  much  later,  probably 
in  connection  with  the  worship  of  Vishnu. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  25  I 

the  heavenly  Soma,  in  the  use  of  which  Indra,  as 
we  know,  brooks  no  stinting.  From  the  confused 
and  fragmentary  accounts  of  the  god's  childhood 
and  early  exploits,  we  see  that  he  possessed  himself 
of  the  coveted  beverage  by  violence,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  vent  his  ire  and  try  his  newborn  strength 
upon  the  keeper  of  it,  whom  he  overpowered  and 
hurled  down,  seizing  him  by  one  foot.  (See  p.  204.) 
For  Tvashtar  is  Indra's  father.  Two  texts  estab- 
lish the  fact  beyond  a  doubt  : 

"  Tvashtar  fashioned  for  him  the  thunderbolt  to  be  wielded  in 
battle."     (I.,  61,  6.) 

"  The  thunderbolt  which  his  father  fashioned  for  him  some  time 
ago  just  suits  his  arm."     (II.,  17,  6.) 

Indra,  scarce  born,  drinks  the  Soma  in  the  Jiighest 
heaven  (III.,  32,  10).  The  mother  who  bore  him 
poured  it  out  for  him  in  the  house  of  his  great 
father  (III.,  48,  2).  Scarcely  has  the  babe  tasted 
the  stimulating  beverage,  when  his  strength  grows 
on  him  : 

"Vigorous,  victorious,  of  might  transcendant,  he  shaped  his  body 
to  his  will ;  just  born,  he  overcame  Tvashtar,  stole  the  Soma,  and 
drank  it  in  the  vats."     (III.,  48,  4.) 

"  Who  made  thy  mother  a  widow  ?  "  asks  the  poet 
(IV.,  18,  12).  Evidently  Indra  himself,  by  slaying 
his  father. — "  Who  wanted  to  kill  thee  while  resting 
or  travelling?"  Probably  Tvashtar,  in  anger  at 
being  robbed  of  the  Soma. — "  What  god  came  to  thy 
assistance  when  thou  didst  seize  thy  father  by  the 
foot  and  hurl  him  down  ?  " 

Here  we  have  the  whole  myth,  complete  and  clear; 


252  VEDIC  INDIA. 

only,  after  the  manner  of  the  Rig-Veda,  we  do  not 
get  it  in  a  connected  form,  but  must  fish  it  out  in 
bits  from  texts  out  of  the  different  books.  There  is 
nothing  there  that  does  not  fit  in  beautifully  with 
the  identification  of  Tvashtar  as  a  Sky-god  of  sombre 
and  malevolent  aspect,  supplanted  in  the  devotion 
of  the  Indian  Aryas  by  the  more  popular — and  more 
immediately  useful — Warrior-god.  Many  more  short 
texts  could  be  picked  out  which  would  confirm  this 
remarkable  myth,  but  could  not  make  it  more  com- 
plete. And  what  more  natural  than  that  the  Light- 
ning— for  the  god  who  wields  the  thunderbolt  is 
nothing  else  in  reality — should  be  the  son  of  the 
frowning,  angry  sky  ? 

13.  But  we  have  not  done  with  Tvashtar  yet. 
He  figures  in  another  story-myth,  as  remarkable  as 
that  of  the  cup,  and  one  that  has  given  as  much  food 
to  disputed  interpretations,  both  among  native  com- 
mentators and  modern  European  scholars.  It  is  the 
myth  of  the  birth  of  the  Ashvins.  The  story  is  told 
completely,  though,  as  usual,  not  without  obscurity, 
in  the  following  too  famous  passage  (X.,  17,  1-2)  : 

"  Tvashtar  makes  a  wedding  for  his  daughter  and  all  the  world 
comes  to  it.  The  mother  of  Yama,  the  wedded  ■  wife  of  the  great 
Vivasvat,  disappeared. — They  [the  gods]  hid  the  immortal  one  from 
mortals  and  having  created  another  just  like  her,  they  gave  her  to 
Vivasvat.  Then  SaranyO  bore  the  two  Ashvins  and,  having  done  so, 
she  deserted  the  two  twins."  ■ 

'  "  Or  the  two  pairs  of  twins."  This  would  include  Yama's  twin- 
sister  YAMf,  though  she  is  not  named  in  the  text.  She  does,  however, 
appear  once  in  the  Rig,  in  a  most  peculiar  dialogue  with  Yama.  But 
this  piece  is  of  very  uncertain  date,  and  bears  the  imprint  of  quite  late 
Brahmanism.  So  that  Yami  may  very  well  have  been  a  subsequent 
addition,  for  symmetry's  sake,  and  also  because  the  name  of  Yama 
generally  means  "  a  twin." 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  253 

We  already  know  that  Yama  was  a  son  of  Vivasvat. 
We  now  find  that  the  Ashvins  were  Vivasvat's  sons 
also,  and  grandsons  of  Tvashtar,  and  learn  that  their 
mother  was  that  ungracious  god's  daughter.  So  far 
we  know  who  Saranyu  was.  But  ivhat  she  was  is  the 
question  that  has  been  so  differently  answered  by 
the  various  schools  of  learned  mythologists.  "  The 
Dawn,"  say  those  who  are  inclined  to  see  the  Sun 
and  Dawn  in  most  heavenly  couples.  "  The  Storm- 
cloud,"  reply  those  who  think  that  the  atmospheric 
drama  absorbed  the  attention  of  the  Penjab  Aryas 
almost  to  the  exclusion  of  other  natural  phenomena.' 
Neither  of  these  interpretations  is  exempt  from  a 
certain  lameness.  For  the  Dawn  can  hardly  be  the 
mother  of  the  early  twilight  vjh'ich precedes  her,  even 
allowing  for  Vedic  inconsistencies,  though  there  is 
nothing  amiss  with  the  myth  which  makes  her  the 
Ashvins'  sister  or  even  their  bride,  who  on  one  occa- 
sion is  said  to  have  mounted  their  chariot.  Again, 
the  Stormcloud  seems  to  have  even  less  to  do  with 
a  phenomenon  of  light  :  the  two  belong  to  different 
worlds — the  Atmosphere  and  the  Sky.  But  Sara- 
nyu's  name  is  too  suggestive  :  it  means  "  the  fleet," 
"  the  running,"  and  nothing  occurred  to  the  first  in- 
vestigators that  it  would  fit,  except  the  Dawn  or  the 
Stormcloud.  A  younger  scholar  proposes  a  far  more 
plausible  solution : 

"  When  we  are  told,"  he  says,  "  that  the  Ashvins  arrive  at  the  end 
or  in  the  last  watch  of  night  and  gradually  spread  over  the  whole 

'  As  leaders  of  the  first-named  school  we  may  consider  Professors 
Max  Miiller  and  Angelo  de  Gubernatis,  while  in  the  van  of  the  latter 
stands  the  no  less  eminent  Adalbert  Kuhn. 


254  VEDIC  INDIA, 

horizon,  dispersing  or  destroying  the  darkness  and  bringing  daylight 
to  all  creatures,  we  surely  cannot  take  either  the  Dawn  or  the  Storm- 
cloud  for  their  mother,  but  must,  in  the  order  of  nature,  look  for  some 
other  phenomenon  which  precedes  the  dawn  and  even  the  twilight 
represented  by  the  Ashvins,  and  that  can  be  no  other  than — Night. 
The  adjective  saranyA  should  therefore  be  completed  by  the  noun 
nakte,  and  then  interpreted  as  '  the  fleet  night '  (in  coming  and  in 
vanishing),"* 

14.  That  the  Night  should  be  the  daughter  of  the 
Sky  in  its  unamiable  aspect  (Tvashtar)  and  the 
mother  of  the  TwiHght  Twins,  is  satisfactory  ;  that 
she  should  first  be  the  mother  of  Yama, — if  Yama 
be,  as  Hillebrandt  so  ably  contends,  the  Moon, — is 
highly  so.  As  to  her  husband,  "  the  great  Vivasvat," 
he  is  often,  and  in  post-vedic  times  always,  identified 
with  the  Sun  ;  not  always  or  necessarily,  however,  in 
the  Rig-Veda.  For  "  Vivasvat,"  like  most  proper 
names,  is  originally  an  adjective,  signifying  "  bright, 
luminous."  Now  there  are  other  bright  and  luminous 
things  besides  the  sun  ;  what  they  are,  the  context 
in  each  separate  instance  must  help  us  to  find  out. 
And  the  context  of  many  passages  in  the  hymns 
show  beyond  a  doubt  that  Vivasvat  can  also  repre- 
sent the  bright,  luminous  Sky.     Here  are  some  : 

"  Matarishvan,  the  messenger  [of  the  gods]  brought  Agnifrom  afar, 
from  vivasvat  [the  Sky]."     (VI.,  8,  4.) 

"  With  your  chariot,  fleeter  than  thought,  which  the  Ribhus 
fashioned,  come  O  Ashvins, — the  chariot  at  the  harnessing  of  which 

'  Dr.  L.  Myriantheus,  Die  Afvins  oder  Arischen  Dioskuren  (1876), 
p.  57.  He  points  in  confirmation  to  the  Homeric  expression  "  the  fleet 
night,"  and  to  the  fact  that  Leda,  the  mother  of  the  Greek  Dioskouroi 
(the  "  Sons  of  Zeus  " — the  exact  equivalent  of  the  Aryan  ndpatd-diva, 
the  "  Sons  of  the  Sky  "),  has  long  ago  been  identified  with  Night. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  255 

the  Daughter  of  the  Sky  [the  Dawn]  is  born,  also  Day  and  Night, 
both  splendid,  from  [or  out  of]  Vivasvat  [the  bright,  luminous  sky]." 
(X.,  39,  12.)' 

And  especially : 

"After  staying  overnight  with  Vivasvat,  O  Ashvins,  come  hither 
to  drink  Soma,  drawn  by  our  songs."     (X.,  46,  13.) 

Vivasvat  being  their  father,  it  is  not  strange  that 
they  should  stay  with  him  ;  in  other  words,  the  twi- 
light may  be  imagined  as  waiting  overnight  in  the 
sky  before  appearing.* 

To  sum  up  :  Saranyu,  the  fleet  Night,  is  the  daugh- 
ter of  Tvashtar,  the  stern  and  frowning  Sky,  who 
gives  her  to  wife  to  Vivasvat,  the  luminous  Sky  ;  she 
becomes  the  mother  of  Yama,  the  Moon ;  then 
the  gods  conceal  her,  the  immortal,  from  mortals : 
the  Night  vanishes ;  but,  in  doing  so,  she  gives  birth 
to  the  Twilight  Twins,  the  Ashvins,  whom  she  per- 
force must  leave  as  well  as  her  first-born.  The  myth 
is  simple  and  transparent  enough  ;  only  the  second 
or  substituted  wife  remains  unaccounted  for.  But 
the  commentators  tell  us  that  she  gave  birth  to 
Manu,  the  mythical  sage  and  sacrificer,  the  progeni- 
tor of  the  human  race,  thus  formulating  the  ancient 

'  This  alludes  to  the  later  and  already  corrupt  belief  in  the  Ashvins 
coming  both  in  the  morning  and  at  night. 

*  See  Myriantheus,  Die  Afvins,  pp.  4-13.  We  may  as  well  mention 
here  the  curious  custom  of  giving  to  sacrificers,  by  courtesy,  the  name 
of  vivasvat.  By  the  act  of  sacrificing,  the  worshipper  enters  into 
communion  with  the  gods,  becomes,  for  the  time  being,  one  of  them. 
Thus  in  Egypt,  every  man  received  after  death,  by  courtesy,  the  title 
of  "  Osiris,"  because  it  was  hoped  he  had  attained  blessedness  in  the 
bosom  of  the  god. 


256  VEDIC  INDIA. 

belief  in  the  heavenly  origin  of  mankind.'  Who 
she  was,  i.  e.,  what  she  was  meant  to  represent, 
has  never  been  found  out.  The  myth  itself,  how- 
ever, in  the  attempt  at  explanation,  was  handled  and 
rehandled,  added  to  and  ornamented,  until  it  became 
almost  hopelessly  obscure,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
return  to  the  original  Rig  texts,  and  them  only,  in 
order  to  restore  it  to  its  meaning  in  the  order  of 
natural  phenomena. 

15.  There  is  another  mysterious  being,  another 
mother  of  twins,  whose  name,  SaramA,  shows  her 
to  be  somewhat  akin  in  nature  to  Saranyu — also  a 
"  fleet  one,"  a  "  runner."  With  her  offspring,  the 
twin  Sarameyas  dogs,  the  messengers  of  Yama, 
we  are  already  acquainted  (see  p.  182).'  She  herself 
appears  to  have  been  Indra's  special  messenger,  em- 
ployed by  him  on  diplomatic  and  scouting  errands. 
We  have  an  unusually  detailed  and  complete  narra- 
tive of  one  such  expedition  in  the  Rig-Veda.  The 
Panis — the  avaricious  traders  and  robbers — had 
stolen  the  milk  kine  on  which  the  race  of  men 
chiefly  depends  for  nourishment.  Indra  prepared 
to  go  to  their  rescue  in  company  with  Brihaspati — 
the  Lord  of  Prayer — and  the  nine  Angiras,  the 
heavenly  singers  and  sacrificers.     But  he  first  sent 

*  Manu  is  often  used  simply  in  the  sense  of  "  man."  The  etymo- 
logical meaning  is  "  the  thinker."  The  other  habitual  designation  of 
our  race  is  "  mortal,"  as  opposed  to  the  '*  immortals  " — gods.  Man, 
therefore,  was  to  the  old  Aryas  '*  he  who  thinks  "  and  "  he  who  dies  " 
— surely  a  definition  as  profound  as  comprehensive. 

^  Probably  on  account  of  her  connection  with  these  dogs,  Sarama 
was  subsequently  made  out  to  be  herself  a  dog.  There  is,  however, 
no  allusion  to  this  in  the  Rig- Veda. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS,  2$y 

Sarama  to  reconnoitre.  She  went  "  on  the  right 
path  "  and  found  the  strong  stable,  a  cave  in  the 
rock,  through  a  cleft  of  which  she  heard  the  cows* 
lowing.  She  went  on  until  she  came  across  the 
Pani-robbers,  between  whom  and  herself  there  en- 
sued the  following  dialogue,  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable pieces  in  the  Rig- Veda  (X.,  io8).  The 
Panis  begin  : 

T/ie  Patiis  :  "  With  what  intention  did  Sarama  reach  this  place? 
for  the  way  is  far  and  leads  tortuously  away.  What  is  thy  wish  with 
us?  Didst  travel  safely?  [or  "  how  was  the  night  ?  "]  How  didst 
thou  cross  the  waters  of  the  Rasa  ?  "  ' 

Sarama  /  "  I  came  sent  as  the  messenger  of  Indra,  desiring,  O 
Panis,  your  great  treasures.  This  preserved  me  from  the  fear  of 
crossing,  and  thus  I  crossed  the  waters  of  the  Rasa." 

The  Panis  :  "  Who  is  he?  what  looks  he  like,  this  Indra,  whose 
herald  you  have  hastened  from  afar?  Let  him  come  here,  we  will 
make  friends  with  him,  then  he  may  be  the  herdsman  of  our  cows." 

Saramd  :  "  Ye  cannot  injure  him,  but  he  can  injure,  whose  herald 
I  have  hastened  from  afar.  Deep  rivers  cannot  overwhelm  him  ; 
you,  Panis,  soon  shall  be  cut  down  by  Indra." 

The  Panis  :  "  Those  cows,  O  Sarama,  which  thou  cam'st  to  seek, 
are  flying  round  the  ends  of  the  sky.  O  darling,  who  would  give  up 
to  thee  yvithout  a  fight  ?  for,  in  truth,  our  weapons  too  are  sharp." 

Saramd  :  "  Not  hurtful  are  your  words,  O  Panis,  and  though  your 
wretched  bodies  were  arrow-proof,  though  the  way  to  you  be  hard  to 
go,  little  will  Brihaspati  care." 

The  Panis  :  "  That  store,  O  Sarama,  is  fast  within  the  rock — 't  is 
full  with  horses,  cows,  and  treasures  ;  Panis  watch  it  who  are  good 
watchers  ;  thou  art  come  in  vain.     .     .     ." 

Saramd  :  "  The  Rishis  will  come  here,  fired  with  Soma,  Ayasia, 
and  the  Angiras,  the  Nine.  They  will  divide  this  stable  of  cows. 
Then  the  Panis  will  spit  out  this  speech  [wish  it  unspoken]." 

The  Panis  :    "  Of  a  surety,  Sarama,  thou  art  come  hither  driven 

'  The  Rasa — a  mythical  river,  deep  and  dangerous  :  the  waters  of 
Darkness  or  of  Death. 
17 


258  VEDIC  INDIA. 

by  the  violence  of  the  gods  :  let  us  make  thee  our  sister  ;  go  not 
away  again.     We  will  give  thee  part  of  the  cows,  O  darling." 

Saramd  :  "I  know  nothing  of  brotherhood  or  sisterhood;  Indra 
knows  it  and  the  awful  Angiras.  They  seemed  to  me  anxious  for 
their  cows  when  I  came  ;  therefore  get  away  from  here,  O  Panis,  get 
far  away." 

Sarama's  scouting  having  proved  more  successful 
than  her  diplomatical  effort,  she  returned  to  those 
who  sent  her,  to  act  as  guide.  Swift  and  sure  of 
foot,  she  walked  before  them,  taking  them  along  the 
broad  and  ancient  heavenly  path  which  leads  to  the 
one  goal.  As  they  approached  the  rock,  which  she 
was  first  to  reach,  the  loud  singing  of  the  Angiras 
mingled  with  the  lowing  of  the  cows  in  the  cave. 
Indra  and  Brihaspati  now  came  up  ;  the  rock  opened 
with  a  great  crash  under  the  blows  of  Indra's  mace, 
and  Brihaspati  led  forth  the  cows,  driving  them 
along  as  the  wind  drives  the  storm-cloud.  The 
Panis  were  dismayed ;  Vala,  the  cave-demon, 
mourned  for  his  beautiful  cows  as  the  tree  mourns 
for  its  foliage  when  it  is  stripped  bare  by  frost.' 

16.  This  beautifully  and  dramatically  developed 
story-myth  speaks  for  itself,  and  it  is  only  the  identi- 
fication of  Sarama,  which  gives  rise  to  the  usual 
difference  of  opinions.  She,  too,  has  been  said  to  be 
the  Dawn,  and  the  Stormcloud  ;  but  she  is  so  spe- 
cially characterized  as  the  precursor  of  a  violent 
thunder-storm    that,  if  a  naturalistic  interpretation 

*  The  narrative  is  given  in  words  taken  from  the  Rig-Veda.  Only 
the  passages  are  so  short  and  scattered,  it  would  be  cumbersome  to 
give  chapter  and  verse  for  them  all.  This  particular  myth,  with  the 
active  part  Brihaspati  plays  in  it,  was  a  great  favorite,  for  it  is  alluded 
to  innumerable  times,  though  Sarama  is  mentioned  only  in  half  a 
dozen  texts. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  259 

be  adopted, — no  doubt  the  original  one, — one  is  more 
tempted  to  concur  in  that  which  makes  her  out  to  be 
the  wind  which  precedes  a  heavy  rain.  It  is  only 
the  wind  that  can  be  called  the  scout  of  the  heavens  ; 
only  the  wind  that  may  be  said  to  try  to  bring  away 
"  the  cows  "  from  the  solid  black  mountain  banked 
up  against  the  horizon,  and  to  be  unable  to  accom- 
plish it  until  the  storm-god  and  his  troop  follow  the 
"  broad  trail  "  opened  for  them  and  break  open  the 
rock.  This  explanation  is  greatly  confirmed  by  the 
fact  that  Sarama's  canine  offspring,  the  Sarameya 
dogs,  undoubtedly  are  the  evening  twilight  twins 
(probably  in  symmetrical  opposition  to  the  morning 
twilight  twins,  the  Ashvins),  who  have  inherited  their 
mother's  scouting  and  cattle-driving  qualities, — only 
the  cattle  they  are  after  are  men  (see  p.  182), — and 
most  certainly  represent  the  twilight  together  with 
and  inseparably  from  the  breeze  which,  in  Southern 
climes,  invariably  rises  immediately  after  sunset,' 
That,  like  the  Ashvins,  these  twins  may,  in  the  course 
of  time,  have  been  separated  into  morning  and  even- 
ing, is  more  than  likely  ;  indeed  one  Brahmana,  in  one 
of  those  rare  passages  of  profound  poetical  beauty 
("  rare  "  in  every  sense  of  the  word),  which  reward 
the  patient  searcher,  calls  Day  and  Night,  "the 
outstretched  arms  of  Death." 

17.  So  much  for  this  most  lucid  nature-myth.  But 
nature-myths  have  a  way  of  becoming  transformed 

'  The  name  Sdratn?ya  has  been  philologically  identified  beyond  a 
doubt  with  that  of  the  Hellenic  god  Hermes,  the  messenger  of  the 
gods,  the  sweet  whistler  and  musician,  the  stealer  of  cows  and  guide 
of  the  dead — and  Hermes  is  certainly  the  wind. 


26o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

in  the  course  of  time ;  and  if  they  do  not  actually 
descend  to  earth  and  become  the  stories  of  old-time 
heroes  and  sages,  they  can  undergo  changes  to  suit 
the  developing  spirit  of  the  race  and  age  without 
being  taken  from  their  celestial  habitat.  This  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  case  with  the  myth  of 
Sarama,  even  before  it  assumed  its  fixed  and  finished 
form  in  the  canon  of  the  hymns.'  For  in  this  form 
latest  research  finds  good  reason  to  see  a  combina- 
tion of  nature-myth  and  spiritual,  or  rather  ritualistic, 
elements,  introduced  by  those  all-pervading  priestly 
influences  which  were  soon  to  culminate  in  the 
tyranny  of  Brahmanism.  In  this  transformed  myth 
Sarama  represents  no  longer  a  power  of  nature, 
but  that  of  the  human  Prayer,  more  correctly  the 
sacred  word — the  mantra  ;  for,  as  early  as  the  Vedic 
times,  prayer  was  no  longer  the  spontaneous  out- 
pouring of  the  heart,  as  it  must  have  been  at  least 
sometimes  and  with  some  of  the  first  composers 
of  the  hymns,  the  ancient  Rishis,  but  a  strictly 
regulated  reciting  of  texts  considered  as  sacred  and 
powerful  in  themselves,  with  a  sort  of  talismanic 
power,  and  credited  with  compelling  force  over  the 
elements,  /.  c,  the  gods.  It  will  be  seen  that  Sarama, 
as  a  personification  of  this  Prayer,  can  well  be 
imagined  as  "  going  on  the  right  path  "  ("  the  path 
of  rita^'  represented  on  earth  by  the  sacrificial 
rite),  "  finding  the  cows,"  frightening  the  robbers, 
then  guiding  the  god  to  the  strong  stable  and  stand- 
ing by  while  he  breaks  it  open.  This  secondary 
interpretation  will  be  very  convincing  if  we  consider 

'  See  Bergaigne,  La  Religion  VMiqiie,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  311-321. 


LESSEI?  AND  LATER   GODS.  261 

who  Indra's  attendants  are  on  this  occasion :  not  the 
Maruts,  but  the  Angiras — a  troop  of  priestly  demi- 
gods, supposed  to  be  divinized  ancient  sacrificers,  in 
reahty  themselves  personifications  of  the  sacred 
hymns  which  they  go  on  everlastingly  singing  on 
their  aerial  way.  Now  the  heavenly  form  of  the 
sacred  song  is  the  voice  of  the  thunder.  When  the 
loud  singing  of  the  Angiras  mingles  with  the  lowing 
of  the  captive  cows,  of  course  we  know  we  have  to 
imagine  the  long  swelling  and  rolling  thunder  of  a 
southern  storm,  answered  by  muffled  mutterings  from 
the  distant  mountains,  while  the  "  loud  crash  "  with 
which  the  cave-stable  is  burst  open  is  the  short 
rattling  clap  of  the  bolt  that  strikes.  For  all  heavenly 
music  is  produced  either  by  the  thunder  or  the  wind 
or  the  rain.  And  thunder  is  the  Sacred  Word,  the 
Sacred  Hymn  par  excellence,  the  prototype  of  all 
speech,  the  language  known  to  gods,  but  not  under- 
stood of  men.* 

18.  Then — Indra's  companion.  It  is  not  Vishnu, 
or  Soma,  or  even  Agni  in  his  direct  natural  form  ;  it 
is  Brihaspati  or  Brahmanaspati — Fire  in  his  most 
august,  sacrificial,  and  sacerdotal  form,  the  "  Lord  of 
Prayer,"  the  leader  of  hymns,  the  institutor  of 
worship  and  rites ;  in  a  word,  the  divine  Jiotar  and 
purohita,  the  priest  of  god  and  men,  having  himself 
the  name  of  "Angiras" — the  leaderof  the  Nine,  and 
the  divine  personification  of  both  the  holiness  and 
the  power  of  the  brahma — Prayer,  as  represented  by 
the  sacred  songs — sdman,  or  sacred  texts — mantra.^ 

'  See  farther,  pp.  269-270. 

*  Brahma,  from  a  root  meaning  "  to  penetrate,  to  pervade  ;  it  is 
also  contained  in  the  name  Brihaspati. 


262  VEDIC  INDIA. 

When  therefore  he  is  called  pathikrit  — "  path- 
preparer"  ' — we  are  not  puzzled  as  to  what  path  is 
meant :  it  is  the  same  that  "  the  old  Rishis  have  pre- 
pared," that  on  which  Sarama  led  the  gods,  the  broad 
and  ancient  heavenly  path  which  leads  to  the  one 
goal — the  path  of  Sacrifice.  In  the  hymns  addressed 
to  this  priestly  deity,  he  is  credited  with  all  the 
deeds  and  works  elsewhere  ascribed  to  Indra  and 
all  the  other  great  nature-gods,  whose  supremacy 
thus  seems  to  be  centred  in  him  or  rather  transferred 
to  him,  and  numberless  short  interpolated  passages 
bring  him  into  older  hymns  where  he  is  manifestly 
out  of  place.  Indeed  we  have  in  him  the  connecting 
link  between  pure  Vedism  and  rising  Brahmanism. 
For  not  only  are  the  Brahmans  the  men  who  wield 
the  power  of  the  braJima,  but  the  line  of  abstract 
speculation,  initiated  by  this  creation — and  reflection 
— of  the  priestly  class  (soon  to  be  a  caste),  gradually 
supersedes  the  old  joyous,  vigorous  nature-worship, 
and  culminates  in  the  evolution  of  the  braJima 
(neuter  noun)  into  an  all-pervading  but  latent  spir- 
itual essence  and  presence,  and  its  final  manifesta- 
tion in  the  person  of  the  supreme  god  and  creator 
Brahma  (masculine),  the  head  of  the  great  Brahma- 
nic  Triad. 

19.  It  has  been  remarked  that  "all  the  gods 
whose  names  are  compounded  with  pati  ["  lord  of — "] 
must  be  reckoned  among  the  more  recent.     They 


1  The  exact  equivalent  of  the  Latin  highest  priestly  title,  pontifex 
— literally  "bridge-maker."  Pons,  pontis  originally  meant  not  a 
bridge,  but  a  path  :  a  bridge  is  a  path  across  a  river.  The  Teutonic 
and  Slavic  languages  have  retained  the  old  meaning. 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  263 

were  the  products  of  reflection."  '  It  should  never 
be  forgotten,  at  the  same  time,  that  such  secondary 
mythical  persons  (abstractions)  must  of  necessity 
have  developed  out  of  primary  ones  (nature-gods), 
and  the  Rig-Veda  shows  us  exactly  how  it  was 
done.  "  Brahmanaspati  "  is  repeatedly  used  in  the 
hymns  as  an  adjective,  an  epithet  of  Agni.  It 
does  not  follow  from  this  that,  after  the  epithet 
is  detached  from  the  name  it  qualifies  and  has  be- 
come a  separate  person,  that  person  should  be  con- 
sidered as  always  identical  with  the  bearer  of  that 
name,  for  with  an  individuality  it  also  assumes  in- 
dividual life,  and  begins  its  own  course  of  evolution  ; 
but  the  original  connection  between  the  two  will 
always  be  apparent,  as  that  of  Brihaspati  with  sacri- 
ficial fire.  Thus  again  Savitar,  Soma,  Indra,  each  in 
turn  receive  the  epithet  of  PrajApati — "  lord  of 
descendants,"  or,  as  the  word  is  more  commonly 
translated,  "  lord  of  creatures."  In  the  late  stage  of 
Vedic  theology,  the  dawning  era  of  abstractions,  we 
always  have  Prajapati  mentioned,  and  occasionally 
invoked  as  a  separate  deity.  It  is  only  in  post-vedic 
Brahmanism,  however,  that  he  attains  the  supreme 
honor  of  being  identified  with  Brahma  himself. 
Another  connecting  link;  another  product  of  the 
period  of  transition.  Such  also  is  ViSHVAKARMAN 
— "the  fabricator  of  the  universe,"  originally  a 
title  given  to  Indra,  Surya,  and  other  great  gods, 
then  an  independent  deity,  tending,  in  true  Vedic 
fashion,    to   absorb    the    functions,    qualities,    and 

'  Roth,   "  Brahma  and  the  Brahmans,"    Journal  of  the  German 
Oriental  Society,  vol.  i.,  pp.  tb  ff. 


264  VEDIC  INDIA. 

honors  of  all  other  gods.  Two  hymns  are  con- 
secrated  to  him  (X.,  81  and  82),  where  he  is 
described  as 

"  the  one  god  who  has  on  every  side  eyes,  on  every  side  a  face,  arms, 
feet ;  who,  when  producing  heaven  and  earth,  shapes  them  with 
his  arms  and  wings.  .  .  .  Who  is  our  father,  our  creator, 
maker, — who  every  place  doth  know  and  every  creature, — by  whom 
alone  to  gods  their  names  were  given, —  to  whom  all  other  creatures 
go,  to  ask  him." 

Among  these  gods  of  the  second  formation  we 
may  also  class  Hiranyagarbha, — "  the  Golden 
Embryo,"  or  "  the  Golden  Child,"  evidently  origi- 
nally a  name  of  the  Sun, — who  goes  the  same  way 
of  abstraction  which  leads  these  gods  to  the  supreme 
rank.  A  most  beautiful  hymn  (X.,  121)  is  addressed 
to  him,  but  it  properly  belongs,  as  well  as  the 
greater  portion  of  those  to  Vishvakarman,  among 
those  that  illustrate  the  beginnings  of  speculative 
philosophy  in  the  Rig-Veda.' 

20.  These  gods  of  what  we  call  the  secondary  or 
.speculative  formation,  whose  connection  with  the 
primary  nature-gods  is  clearly  discernible,  should  be 
carefully  distinguished  from  deities  of  a  third  class 
still — the  purely  allegorical — /'.  e.,  mere  personifica- 
tions of  abstractions  and  qualities  that  never  had 
any  existence  in  physical  nature,  such  as  Faith 
(ShraddhA),  Liberality  (DakshinA,  in  the  sense  of 
largess  to  the  priests)  Wrath  (Manyus,  the  right- 
eous wrath  which  animates  those  who  fight  demons 
and  earthly  foes).  This,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the 
favorite  myth-form  of  the  moralizing  Eranians,^  and 

'  See  farther  on,  chapter  xi. 

*  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  Tiff' 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  265 

does  not  at  all  come  natural  to  the  Aryas  of  India 
in  the  earlier  time  of  their  cheerful  nature-worship. 
It  is  therefore  but  scantily  represented  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  but  blossoms  forth  abundantly  in  the  late  por- 
tions of  the  Atharva-Veda,  where  Time,  Desire,  the 
Breath  of  Life,  etc.,  are  addressed  as  divine  persons, 
with  all  the  pompousness  of  the  earlier  hymns  to 
Indra,  Agni,  Soma,  and  the  others.  In  the  Brah- 
manas  this  element  predominates  more  and  more. 

21.  It  may  have  been  noticed  that  the  feminine 
element  is  almost  absent  from  our  sketch  of  the 
Vedic  Pantheon.  So  it  is  from  the  Rig-Veda  it- 
self. There  is  really  only  one  "great  goddess,"  with 
an  individuality,  a  story,  and  functions  proper  to  her 
and  to  no  other  divine  being,  and  that  is  Ushas,  the 
Dawn.  Sarama  is  not  a  goddess  ;  still  less  Saranyu 
"The  wives  of  the  gods"  —  the  Devapatnis  —  are 
spoken  of  vaguely,  collectively,  but  they  are  easily 
transformed  into  "  wives  of  the  demons — Ddsapat- 
nis" — for  they  are  in  reality  neither  more  nor  less 
than  "  the  waters  "  or  "  cows,"  which  are  eternally 
fought  for,  captured,  and  rescued.  And  when  these 
"  wives  "  so  far  emerge  out  of  their  misty  unreality 
as  to  be  coupled  with  one  or  other  particular  god, 
they  assume  their  husbands'  names  with  a  feminine 
ending:  VarunAni,  Indrani,  Agnayi,  ASHVINI. 
They  are  only  pale,  unsubstantial  reflections. 

22.  Neither  can  the  Waters  and  Rivers  properly 
be  called  goddesses,  though  they  are  treated  with 
extreme  reverence,  and  frequently  invoked  as  the 
holiest  and  purest  of  created  things.  When  "  the 
Waters  " — Apas — are    spoken   of  in  a  general  way, 


266  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  heavenly  waters  are  meant,  as  a  rule — the 
Mothers  of  Agni,  and  one  of  the  abodes  of  Soma ; 
hence  their  mysterious  and  exceeding  holiness,  which 
is  naturally  transferred  to  the  terrestrial  waters,  if 
only  because  the  latter  play  an  important  part  in  sac- 
rifice as  one  of  the  ingredients  of  the  Soma-beverage. 
Yet,  although  the  Waters'  mystical  purifying  powers 
are  certainly  alluded  to  in  such  texts  as  "  .  .  .  these 
divine  ones  carry  away  defilement  ;  I  come  up  out 
of  them  pure  and  cleansed,"  there  is  no  doubt  tj^at 
their  physical  qualities  were  fully  realized  and  appre- 
ciated :  their  cleanness,  their  wholesomeness,  their 
bountifulness  as  the  fosterers  of  vegetation  and  of 
cattle,  and  as  wealth-givers.  They  are  then  thought 
of  chiefly  in  their  form  of  rivers,  and  are  com- 
pared, often  very  poetically,  to  various  things  loved 
of  the  people :  now  to  stately  milch-cows,  now  to 
fleet  and  graceful  mares ;  they  are  playful  sisters, 
they  are  kindly  mothers.  There  is  a  famous  '*  River- 
hymn  " — Nadistiiti  (X.,  75) — celebrating  by  name 
the  rivers  of  early  Aryan  India,  a  treasure  of  prehis- 
torical  geography.  For  there  we  find  all  the  rivers 
of  the  Sapta-Sindhavah  (see  pp.  107,  108,  note),  be- 
sides several  which  it  has  been  impossible  so  far  to 
identify  with  certainty.  They  may  possibly  belong 
to  a  more  eastern  and  less  familiar  region  than  the 
old  Riverland,  a  region  only  just  entered  by 
the  Aryas  in  their  slow  onward  march — mainly  in 
search  of  new  pastures  and  more  room  to  spread 
in.'       For   this    is    the    only    hymn    in   the   whole 

'  "We  have  come  to  a  pastureless  land  .  .  ."  (the  sandy 
tract  west  of  the  Djumna)  "  .  .  .  The  earth,  though  wide,  is 
too  close  for  us  :  show  us  the  way  in  battle,  O  Brihaspati  !     .     .     ." 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  267 

collection  in  which  unmistakable  mention  is  made  of 
the  Ganga  and  Yamuna  (Ganges  and  Djumna),  show- 
ing it  to  be  one  of  the  very  latest.  But  they  are 
merely  named,  as  two  among  many;  while  fully 
half  of  the  verses  are  devoted  to  the  glorification  of 
the  Sindhu  (Indus)  who 

"  flashing,  sparkling,  gleaming,  in  her  majesty,  the  unconquer- 
able, the  most  abundant  of  streams,  beautiful  as  a  handsome,  spotted 
mare,  rolls  her  waters  over  the  levels." 

Evidently  the  centre  of  gravity  of  Aryan  spiritual 
life  had  not  yet  been  displaced. 

23.  Among  the  rivers  there  is  one  which,  from  the 
extreme  reverence  cherished  for  it,  and  the  manifold 
aspects  it  assumes,  comes  nearest  to  the  rank  of  a 
real  goddess,  a  divine  Person,  receiving  oblations 
and  invited  to  partake  of  Soma.  It  is  the  Saras- 
VATI.  We  have  seen  (p.  109)  that,  in  the  late  Vedic 
period  and  the  whole  of  post-vedic  classical  antiquity, 
the  name  and  the  great  sacredness  attaching  thereto, 
belong  to  a  rather  insignificant  river,  which  at  the 
present  time  loses  itself  in  the  sands  of  a  tract  of 
desert,  and  which  even  in  its  early  and  palmier  days 
could  never  have  possessed  much  importance,  unless 
it  were,  as  at  one  time,  the  farthest  eastern  boundary 
of  the  Aryan  domain  beyond  which  Agni  "  Vaish- 
vanara  "  ("who  burns  for  all  men")  had  not  been 
carried — i.  c,  the  sacrificial  flame,  personifying  Aryan 
conquest  and  Aryan  propaganda.  Nor  is  it  possible 
that  this  Sarasvati  should  ever  have  been  described 
in  such  superlative  terms  of  admiration  as  the  follow- 
ing: (VIL,  95,  1-2): 


268  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  With  great  noise  of  waters,  bringing  nourishment,  Sarasvati 
breaks  forth  ;  she  is  to  us  a  firm  bulwark,  a  fortress  of  brass.  Like  to 
a  warrior  in  the  chariot  race,  she  speeds  along,  the  sindhu  [river], 
leaving  all  other  waters  far  behind. 

"  Sarasvati  comes  down  the  purest  of  streams,  from  the  mountains 
to  the  saiHudra  ; '  bringing  wealth  and  prosperity  to  the  wide  world, 
she  flows  with  milk  and  honey  for  those  tliat  dwell  by  her  banks." 

In  early  Vedic  times,  (and  the  book  in  which 
this  passage  occurs  is  a  late  one)  there  was  only- 
one  river  that  justified  such  a  description  —  the 
Indus.  Indeed  this  passage  has  led  to  the  positive 
identification  of  the  Sarasvati  as  the  Indus.  This 
undoubtedly  was  the  original  name  of  the  great 
river  of  the  West,  till  it  came  to  be  familiarly 
spoken  of  simply  as  SindJui,  "  tJie  River."  After 
the  Aryas  had  advanced  a  considerable  distance 
eastward,  crossing  river  after  river,  they  reached 
one  which  arrested  their  progress  for  a  time.  Set- 
tlements arose  along  its  course,  and  it  inherited  the 
name  that  for  some  reason  was  dear  and  sacred  to 
the  Aryas.  For  what  reason  ?  From  ancient  memo- 
ries and  association.  For  "  Sarasvati  "  is  the  exact 
Sanskrit  equivalent  of  the  Old-Eranian  "  Hara- 
QAITI,"  the  Avestan  name  of  the  great  river  (mod- 
ern Helmend)  of  Eastern  Eran — Afghanistan  and 
Kabul — where  some  of  the  separating  Indo-Eranian 
tribes  certainly  sojourned  before  they  summoned 
courage  to  face  the  stony  wall  of  the  Suleiman  range 
and  thread  its  wild,  narrow  passes.    Was  it  not  natural 

'  Samudra — "gathering  of  waters"  ;  in  the  Rig- Veda  not  the  sea 
or  ocean,  but  the  broad  expanse  formed  by  the  reunion  with  the 
Indus  of  the  "five  rivers,"  whose  waters  are  brought  to  it  by  the 
Pantchanada  (see  p.  107). 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  269 

that  they  should  have  thus  perpetuated  the  memory 
of  what  had  long  been  home  ?  This  beautiful  and 
natural  solution  is  suggested  by  the  results  of  latest 
researches,*  and  confirmed  from  a  most  unexpec- 
ted quarter  by  a  curt  mention  in  the  Atharva-Veda 
(VI.,  100,)  of  tJiree  Sarasvatts—di  mention  which, 
being  long  unexplained,  has  been  another  of  the 
puzzles  which  confront  scholars  at  every  step.  Pro- 
bably no  explanation  was  needed  at  the  time,  of 
things  which  had  not  passed  out  of  remembrance. 

24.  Sarasvati  in  post-vedic  times  is  chiefly  praised 
and  invoked  as  the  goddess  of  eloquence,  though  she 
never  lost  her  identity  as  river-goddess.  We  our- 
selves speak  of  "  a  rich,  a  free,  an  easy  flow  of  words," 
of  "fluency  of  speech,"  of  a  "torrent  of  eloquence," 
— so  the  poetical  imagery  which  underlies  this  trans- 
formation will  not  appear  far-fetched  or  strained. 
In  the  Rig-Veda  we  do  not  yet  find  her  thus  spe- 
cialized, but  she  is  associated  with  sacrifice  and  the 
hymns  in  a  way  to  leave  little  doubt  that,  in  the 
later  portions  of  it,  she  already  represented  the  elo- 
quence of  sacred  poetry,  possibly  even  the  different 
sacred  metres  which  were  extolled  and  deified  to 
such  an  extraordinary  extent  in  the  Brahmanas. 

25.  The  same  may  be  said  in  a  still  greater  meas- 
ure of  another  goddess,  VAcH,* — personified  Speech, 
— who  in  the  Rig- Veda  already  (in  the  latest  book 
of  course,  the  tenth)   is  invested  with  much  of  the 

'  See  chiefly  Hillebrandt  Vedische  Mythologie,  vol.  i.,  pp.  gg-ioo. 
It  will  be  noticed  that  the  Helmend  ends,  not  in  a  sea,  but  in  a  large 
lake,  to  which  the  name  of  samudra  would  apply  perfectly. 

*  Ch  pronounced  as  in  church, 


270  VEDIC  INDIA 

usual  pomp  of  Brahmanic  metaphysics,  as  a  "  most 
adorable,"  "  widely  pervading,"  wealth-bringing  deity 
of  "  many  abodes,"  but  not  to  extravagance ;  the 
personification — or  rather  allegory — does  not  pass 
the  bounds  of  fine,  even  noble  poetry,  and  is  more- 
over distinctly  traceable  to  the  natural  phenomenon 
from  which  it  is  evolved.  For  sublimity,  few  con- 
ceptions can  equal  this  of  our  race's  earliest  poets 
— a  conception  which  lingers  still  in  the  mythical 
poetry  of  later  nations  in  other  lands.  Primeval 
speech  is  the  voice  of  the  gods,  speaking  in  thunder 
and  storm  ;  it  is  VdcJi, — the  Sacred  Word,  majestic 
and  compelling,  beneficent  and  wise — in  its  heavenly 
abode.  But  it  is  not  for  men.  To  them  Vach 
descends  in  the  form  of  Speech,  and  lo ! 

"  I  .  .  .  men  with  their  earliest  utterances,  gave  names  to  things, 
and  all  which  they  had  lovingly  treasured  within  them,  the  most  ex- 
cellent and  spotless,  was  disclosed.  2.  Wherever  the  wise  have 
uttered  speech  \ydcJi\  with  discrimination,  sifting  it  as  meal  with  a 
sieve,  there  friend  knows  friend  and  auspicious  fortune  waits  on  their 
words.  3.  Through  sacrifice  they  followed  the  track  of  Vach,  and 
found  her  entered  into  the  Rishis.  Taking  her,  they  divided  her  into 
many  portions,  and  now  the  seven  Rishis  sing  her  praise.  4.  One 
man,  seeing,  sees  not  Vach  ;  another,  hearing,  hears  her  not ;  to 
another  she  willingly  discloses  herself,  as  a  well-attired  and  loving 
wife  displays  her  person  to  her  husband.  5.  One  man  is  said  to  be 
secure  in  her  favor — and  he  is  not  to  be  overwhelmed  in  poetical 
contests  ;  another  lives  in  unprofitable  brooding  :  he  has  only  heard 
Vach,  and  she  is  to  him  without  fruit  or  flower.  6.  He  who  forsakes 
a  well-meaning  friend,  he  has  no  portion  in  Vach,  and  what  he  hears 
he  hears  in  vain :  unknown  to  him  is  the  path  of  virtue.  7.  And 
even  those  who  enjoy  her  with  equally  understanding  eye  and  ear, 
are  unequal  in  the  moving  of  the  spirit :  some  are  lakes  which  reach 
up  to  shoulder  and  to  mouth,  and  some  are  shallow  waters  good  to  bathe 
in.     8.  When  competing  priests  practice  devotion  in  sayings  born  of 


LESSER  AND  LATER   GODS.  2/1 

the  spirit's  might,  one  lags  far  behind  in  wisdom,  while  others  prove 
themselves  true  priests.  9.  One  sits  and  produces  songs  like  blos- 
soms ;  another  sings  them  in  loud  strains ;  one  discourses  sapiently  of 
the  essence  of  things  ;  another  measures  out  the  sacrifice  according  to 
the  rite.  10.  And  friends  are  proud  of  their  friend,  when  he  comes 
among  them  as  leader  of  the  poets.  He  corrects  their  errors,  helps 
them  to  prosperity,  and  stands  up,  ready  for  the  poetical  contest." 

(X..  71). 


The  beauty,  dignity,  and  ennobling  uses  of  speech 
could  scarcely  be  appraised  with  finer  feeling  or 
apter  touches ;  or  the  difference  between  him  who 
seeing,  sees  not,  and  hearing,  hears  not,  and  him  to 
whom  the  gift  is  given  ;  between  the  spirit  deep  as 
the  lake  and  the  mind  shallow  as  the  bathing  pool ; 
between  him  who  blossoms  into  song,  and  him  who 
unprofitably  cudgels  his  brains  and  for  whom  the 
goddess  has  neither  fruit  nor  flower.  Only,  we  must 
beware  of  putting  more  modern  a  sense  into  passages 
of  this  kind  than  they  will  bear.  We  must  remember 
that  the  poetry  we  have  to  do  with  here,  though 
god-given,  is  not  the  free,  unfettered  gift  that  it  is  to 
us  :  the  goddess  must  be  sought  through  sacrifice, 
which  means  that  she  comes  loaded  with  all  the 
shackles  of  rite,  ceremonial,  sacred  metres,  etc.  The 
poetical  contests  are  for  the  composition  of  hymns, 
the  errors  which  the  victorious  priest  corrects  are 
errors  in  sacrificial  tccJinique,  the  prosperity  to  which 
he  helps  is  that  obtained,  nay  compelled,  from  the 
gods  by  correctly  regulated  prayer  {brahnid).  Still, 
the  poet  who  "  fashioned  "  this  hymn,  builded  better 
than  he  knew,  and,  if  freed  from  extraneous,  priestly 
matter,  it  remains  an  exquisite  thing  for  all  time. 


272  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Not  SO  another  hymn  (X.,  125)  consecrated  to 
Vach,  where  the  goddess  is  the  Brahmanic  abstrac- 
tion and  nothing  more,  or  that  most  characteristic 
passage  where  she  undergoes  the  inevitable  trans- 
formation into  a  cow.  The  poet  is  discontented. 
Maybe  he  is  puroJiita  to  a  prince  who  is  not  over 
lavish  with  sacrifices  —  which  are  expensive — and 
fees  and  gifts  have  been  coming  in  scantily.  He 
puts  his  plaint  in  the  mouth  of  the  goddess  Vach, 
whom  he  presents  as  saying: 

"  I,  Vach,  the  skilled  in  speech,  who  assist  all  pious  practices, — I, 
the  divine  cow  who  has  come  from  the  gods, — I  am  neglected  by  evil- 
minded  man." 

26.  We  will  conclude  our  selection  with  a  short 
poem  (it  can  hardly  be  called  a  hymn)  in  praise  of 
Aranyani,  the  goddess  of  forest  solitude  ( Waldein- 
samkeif),  or  rather — the  personified  Forest.  Not  that 
she  is  of  much  importance  as  a  divine  being  ;  indeed 
she  appears  to  have  been  invented  for  the  occasion 
by  some  poet-hermit  whose  soul  was  attuned  to  her 
mysterious  charm.  But  it  is  a  pretty  thing ;  and 
besides,  it  shows  that  forest  life,  which  was  to  be- 
come so  distinctive  a  feature  of  later  Brahmanism, 
is — like  almost  everything  that  ever  held  a  place  in 
the  spiritual  life  of  Aryan  India, — to  be  traced  to 
the  fountain-head  of  it,  the  Rig-Veda.  We  must 
imagine  the  thousand  strange  sounds  and  delusions 
which  seem  to  encompass  the  solitary  listener  of  an 
evening  in  the  darkening  forest : 

"  I.  Aranyani,  Aranyani  !  thou  seemest  to  have  lost  thyself  there  ; 
why  dost  thou  not  ask  the  way  to  the  village  ?     Does  terror  not  seize 


LESSER  AND  LATER    GOpS.' 


273 


thee? — 2.  When  the  owl's  shrill  call  is  answered  by  the  parrot,  which 
hops  about  as  though  to  cymbals'  rhythm,  then  does  Aranyani  rejoice. 
— 3.  Here,  there  is  a  sound  as  of  browsing  cows  ;  there,  houses  appear 
to  be  seen  ;  then  there  is  a  creaking  at  eventide,  as  though  Aranyani 
were  unloading  carts. — 4.  Here  one  man  calls  to  his  cow — there 
another  fells  a  tree  ;  then  one  dwelling  in  the  forest  at  night  fancies 
that  some  one  has  screamed. — 5.  Aranyani  is  not  herself  murderous, 
if  no  one  else  assails  (a  tiger,  etc.)  ;  and  after  eating  of  sweet  fruit,  a 
man  rests  there  at  his  pleasure. — 6.  I  sing  the  praise  of  Aranyani, 
the  mother  of  wild  beasts,  the  spicy,  the  fragrant,  who  yields  abun- 
dance of  food,  though  she  has  no  hinds  to  till  her." 
18 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE   RIG-VEDA:    EARLY   HISTORY. 

1.  Everybody  knows  what  is  meant  by  Caste  in 
India.  Everybody  has  a  more  or  less  clear  perception 
of  the  hold  this  baleful  system  has  established  on 
about  one  sixth  of  the  human  race,  and  of  its  well- 
nigh  ineradicable  evil  effects, — of  the  insuperable 
barrier  it  opposes  to  the  best-meant  efforts  of  the 
country's  European  rulers.  We  are  not  here  con- 
cerned with  the  modern  development  of  the  system 
— the  endless  divisions  and  subdivisions  resulting 
from  intermarriages,  originally  forbidden, — which 
make  official  life  in  India  so  bewildering  a 
task.  But  we  must  dwell  awhile  on  the  original 
division  of  the  social  body  into  four  distinct,  well- 
defined  classes:  (i)  the  Priests — Brahmans  ;  (2) 
the  Warriors — KSHATRIYA  or  RAjANYA ;  (3)  the 
Working  class — Vaishya  (farmers,  craftsmen,  and 
traders)  ; — and  (4)  the  Menial  class — Shudra  ;  in 
other  words :  those  who  pray ;  those  who  fight ; 
those  who  produce  and  barter;  and  those  who 
serve. 

2.  This  is  the  division  into  which,  more  or  less 
distinctly,  every  nation  naturally  splits  itself  at  the 

274 


^  EARLY  HISTORY.  275 

very  start  of  its  organized  existence.  The  peculiarity 
which  characterizes  it  in  India  from  very  early  times 
is  that  nowhere  else  were  the- distinctions  so  harshly 
set,  the  separating  lines  drawn  so  deep  and  straight ; 
nowhere  else  were  men  so  sternly  doomed  to  live 
and  die  within  the  pale  of  the  social  status  into  which 
they  were  born,  with  nothing  left  to  individual 
choice,  no  narrowest  door  ajar  through  which  to  pass 
into  another — wherein,  in  fact,  lies  the  very  essence 
of  caste  as  distinguished  from  mere  class  barriers, 
which  may  be  high  and  forbidding,  but  not  utterly 
impassable.  Lastly,  nowhere  else  did  the  priesthood 
claim  such  absolute  pre-eminence,  demand  such  un- 
conditional submissiveness,  such  almost  servile  self- 
abasement  from  all  other  members  of  the  community 
— to  this  extent  that  for  a  Brahman  to  marry  a 
maiden  of  the  warrior  caste  was  a  condescension  or 
derogation,  although  to  that  caste  belonged  the  kings 
and  princes,  the  rulers  of  the  land.  What  other 
priesthood  ever  had  the  hardihood  to  proclaim  in  so 
many  words  that  "  there  are  two  classes  of  gods : 
the  gods  in  heaven,  and  the  Brahmans  on  earth  "  ? 
Let  us  see  how  the  great  Brahmaniccode — the  Laws 
of  Manu — defines  the  duties  and  mutual  relations  of 
the  four  castes  (L,  88-91): 

"  To  Brahmans  he  [Brahma]  assigned  teaching  and  studying  the 
Veda,  sacrificing  for  their  own  benefit  and  for  others,  giving  and 
accepting  of  alms. 

"  The  Kshatriya  he  commanded  to  protect  the  people,  to  bestow 
gifts,  to  offer  sacrifices,  to  study  the  Veda,  and  to  abstain  from 
attaching  himself  to  sensual  pleasures. 

"  The  Vaishya  to  tend  cattle,  to  bestow  gifts,  to  offer  sacrifices,  to 
study  the  Veda,  to  trade,  to  lend  money,  and  to  cultivate  land. 


2/6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"One  occupation  only  the  Lord  prescribed  to  the  Shudra :  to 
serve  meekly  the  other  three  castes." 

The  position  claimed  for  the  Brahmans  in  this  first, 
general  definition,  is  comparatively  modest,  certainly 
not  unreasonably  arrogant ;  but  we  turn  a  few  pages 
and  the  lawgiver  goes  into  details  and  makes  his 
meaning  clearer. 

"A  Brahman,"  we  read,  "coming  into  existence,  is  born  as  the 
highest  on  earth,  the  lord  of  all  created  beings,  for  the  protection  of 
the  treasury  of  the  law. 

"  Whatever  exists  in  the  world  is  the  property  of  the  Erahman  ;  on 
account  of  the  excellence  of  his  origin,  the  Brahman  is,  indeed,  en- 
titled to  it  all. 

"The  Brahman  eats  but  his  own  food,  wears  but  his  own  apparel, 
bestows  but  his  own  in  alms  ;  other  mortals  subsist  through  the 
benevolence  of  the  Brahman.     .     .     ." 

"  .  .  .  Know  that  a  Brahman  of  ten  years  and  a  Kshatriya 
of  a  hundred  years  stand  to  each  other  in  the  relation  of  father  and 
son  ;  but  between  those  two  the  Brahman  is  the  father.     .     .     ." 

"...  A  Brahman,  be  he  ignorant  or  learned,  is  a  great 
divinity.     .     . 

"...  Though  Brahmans  employ  themselves  in  all  sorts  of 
mean  occupations,  they  must  be  honored  in  every  way  ;  for  each  of 
them  is  a  very  great  deity.     .     .     ." 

The  whole  duty  of  kings  is  pithily  summed  up  under 
these  three  heads:  "  Not  to  turn  back  in  battle;  to 
protect  the  people ;  to  honor  Brahmans."  "  To 
worship  Brahmans "  is  the  expression  repeatedly 
used  ;  "  to  enrich  them  "  is  a  point  emphatically  in- 
culcated, and  the  king  is  solemnly  warned  not  to 
provoke  them  to  anger  under  any  circumstances, 
"■  for  they,  when  angered,  could  instantly  destroy  him, 
together  with   his  army  and  vehicles."     Many   are 


1/ 


• '/|  |\  :^ 


l8. — THE  SIXTH  AVATAR  (OR  VISHNU   INCARNATE  AS  PARASHU-KAMA, 
THE  EXTERMINATOR   OF  THE   KSHATRIYAS).' 


'  The  cow  is  Vasishtha's  sacred  and  miraculous  cow,  the  emblem 
of  Brahmanic  prayer  and  sacrifice. 


278  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  worldly  privileges  and  exemptions  which  they 
demand  and  enjoy.  Still,  it  is  very  certain  that  the 
material  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the  warrior 
caste  and  that  the  Brahmans  did  not  get  quite  as  much 
in  practice  as  they  claimed  in  theory,  and  were  per- 
fectly aware  that  conciliation  was,  after  all,  their 
wisest  policy.  Indeed,  after  some  of  the  most  out- 
rageous bragging  and  bullying,  the  priestly  lawgiver 
suddenly  descends  to  reasonable  ground  and  lays 
down  the  following  shrewd  axiom,  which,  in  all 
times  and  countries,  has  been  the  basis  of  the  mutual 
understanding  between  Church  and  State  : 

"  Kshatriyas  prosper  not  without  Brahmans;  Brahmans  prosper 
not  without  Kshatriyas.  Brahmans  and  Kshatriyas,  being  closely 
united,  prosper  in  this  world  and  the  next.' 

3.  It  will  have  been  noticed  that  only  the  three 
first  castes  are  enjoined  to  study  the  Veda.  No 
mention  of  this  duty  is  made  among  those  of  the 
fourth,  the  servile,  caste.  But  this  is  not  all.  The 
Shudras  were  not  only  not  expected,  they  were  for- 

'  Post-vedic  Brahmanism,  however,  retains  a  vivid  memory  of  a 
bitter  struggle  for  supremacy  between  the  Brahman  caste  and  that 
of  the  Kshatriyas.  It  is  given  in  the  form  of  a  story  both  in  the 
Mahabharata  and  the  Puranas  :  The  Kshatriyas  had  become  so 
arrogant  and  oppressive  that  the  interference  of  Vishnu  himself  was 
needed  to  repress  them.  The  god  took  human  form  and  was  born 
in  the  family  of  the  Bhrigu,  a  priestly  race  of  divine  descent,  as 
Parashu-Rama  ("  Rama  with  the  axe")  who  became  the  extermi- 
nator of  the  warrior  caste.  "Thrice  seven  times  did  he  clear  the 
earth  of  the  Kshatriya  race  and  filled  five  lakes  with  their  blood" — 
after  which  he  gave  the  earth  to  the  Brahmans  ! 


1 


EARLY  HISTORY.  279 

bidden,  to  share  in  the  sacred  inheritance  of  those 
whom  to  serve  was  their  only  mission.  Their  pres- 
ence at  a  sacrifice  would  have  polluted  it ;  the  sacred 
mantras  were  not  to  be  sung  or  recited  within  hear- 
ing of  a  Shudra,  and  had  a  Brahman  instructed  one 
of  the  servile  caste  in  the  knowledge  of  the  Veda,  he 
would  have  been  guilty  of  a  wellnigh  inexpiable 
offence.  When  a  boy  of  one  of  the  three  higher 
castes  attained  a  certain  age,  considered  as  "years  of 
discretion,"  '  he  was  "  initiated,"  /.  e.,  admitted  under 
solemn  ceremonies  into  the  religious  community, 
after  which  he  was  placed  under  digttru  or  spiritual 
guide,  invariably  a  Brahman,  for  instruction  in  the 
Veda.  This  initiation  was  regarded  as  the  youth's 
second  birth,  his  birth  into  the  spiritual  life,  wherefore 
the  three  higher  castes  took  pride  in  the  appellation 
of  "  twice-born"  {ik>i-ja).  From  this  distinction  the 
Shudras,  of  course,  were  excluded.  This  is  declared 
most  explicitly  in  Manu's  Code: 

"  The  Brahman,  the  Kshatriya,  and^  the  Vaishya  castes  are  the 
twice-born  ones,  but  the  fourth,  the  Shudra,  has  no  second  birth. 
There  is  no  fifth  caste." 

4.  This  brief  survey  of  the  original  caste  system 
has  led  us  away  from  what  is,  properly  speaking,  our 
allotted  subject,  for  we  have  strayed  into  post-vedic 
times.  But  the  digression  was  necessary  in  order, 
precisely,  to  conclude  it  with  the  statement  that 
castes,  as  a  firmly  established  institution,  were  not 

'  Any  time  between  the  eighth  and  sixteenth  year  for  a  Brahman, 
between  the  eleventh  and  twenty-second  for  a  Kshatriya,  and  be- 
tween the  twelfth  and  the  twenty-fourth  for  a  Vaishya. 


28o  VEDIC  INDIA. 

as  yet  a  feature  of  the  Vedic  period.  Had  they 
been,  the  fact  must  have  transpired,  even  if  indi- 
rectly, in  the  Rig-Veda,  which  faithfully  reflects  the 
state  of  society  prevailing  at  the  time  that  the  col- 
lection was  forming  ;  and  this  is  not  the  case,  except 
in  one  solitary  and  noteworthy  instance:  the 
ninetieth  hymn  of  the  tenth  book  (X.,  90),  known  as 
the  "  Purusha-hymn,"  PURUSHA-SUKTA.  The  hymn, 
as  a  whole,  is  exceedingly  obscure  and  of  entirely 
mystical  import.  It  describes  the  act  of  creation  in 
the  guise  of  a  huge  sacrifice  performed  by  the  gods, 
in  which  the  central  figure  and  victim  is  a  primeval 
giant,  a  being  named  Purusha  (one  of  the  names  for 
man),  probably  because  mankind  is  represented  as 
being  produced  by  this  being  or,  more  correctly,  out 
of  various  portions  of  his  body.  This  is  the  only  pas- 
sage of  the  hymn  with  which  we  are  here  concerned. 
Purusha,  it  is  said,  "  is  this  whole  universe,  whatever 
has  been  and  whatever  shall  be."  Probably  in  a 
latent  state,  since  the  gods  proceed  to  evolve  out  of 
him  worlds  and  animals  and  men: 

"  When  the  gods  divided  Purusha,  into  how  many  parts  did  they 
cut  him  up  ?  What  was  his  mouth  ?  What  his  arms  ?  What  his 
thighs  and  feet  ? 

"  The  Brahman  was  his  mouth  ;  the  Rajanya  was  made  his  arms  ; 
the  Vaishya  he  was  his  thighs  ;  the  Shudra  sprang  from  his  feet." 

Now  the  tenth  book,  as  a  whole,  is  of  later  date 
than  the  rest.  It  was  made  a  sort  of  receptacle  for 
odd  hymns  and  such  as,  important  in  themselves,  did 
not  fit  well  into  the  scheme  of  the  others,  or  were 
attributed  to  odd  authors,  while  each  book  (except 


EARLY  HISTORY,  28 1 

the  tenth  and  the  first)  usually  bears  the  name  of 
one  priestly  poet  or  family  of  poets.  Intrinsic  differ- 
ences in  language,  spirit,  range  of  thought,  etc.,  bear 
witness  to  the  fact.  The  Purusha-Sukta  especially 
comes  under  this  head,  and,  by  bringing  the  caste 
system  as  far  back  as  the  late  Vedic  period,  shows 
how  easy  must  have  been  the  transition  from  that  to 
the  so-called  Brahmanic  or  classical  period,  there 
never  really  having  been  a  violent  break  between  the 
two.  The  Brahmanic  writings  all  endorse  the  Puru- 
sha  myth,  with  the  only  difference  that  Brahma,  the 
Creator  and  highest  deity  of  the  post-vedic  creed,  is 
substituted  for  the  older  name,  and  the  mystic  sacri- 
fice is  not  mentioned.  This  is  why  the  Brahmans 
always  boast  of  "  the  excellence  of  their  origin," 
their  interpretation  of  the  legend  being  this :  that 
those  who  came  from  the  Deity's  mouth,  as  the 
noblest  organ,  are  born  to  teach  and  to  command  ; 
they  embody  his  Mind,  his  Word  ;  those  that  came 
from  his  arms  are  born  for  action  and  defence  ;  those 
that  come  from  his  thighs  have  the  mission  of  car- 
rying and  supporting  the  nobler  parts  of  the  social 
body ;  while  humble  service  is  clearly  the  lot  of 
those  lowly  ones  who  proceed  from  the  divine  feet.' 
5.  Although  the  castes  and  their  names  occur  but 
once  in  the  course  of  the  entire  Rig-Veda,  there  is 
another  distinction  which  recurs  throughout  the  col- 

'  Ludwig  suggests  that  there  is  a  hint  at  caste — or  at  least  the  in- 
cipient conception  of  caste — in  the  hymn  to  Ushas  (Rig-Veda  1136), 
where  it  is  said  that  the  goddess  ' '  arousing  one  to  wield  the  royal 
power,  another  to  follow  after  fame,  another  to  the  pursuit  of  wealth, 
another  to  perform  services,  awakes  all  creatures  to  go  their  different 
paths  in  life."     (See  p.  222.) 


282 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


lection,  no  matter  to  whom  the  different  books  are 
ascribed,  and  which  divides  the  peoples  who  dwelt 
in  the  Penjab,  and,  later  on,  those  who  occupied  the 
more  easterly  portion  of  Hindustan,  into  two  main 
categories  opposed  to  each  other,  each  comprising 
numerous  subdivisions,  /.  e.,  nations  or  tribes,  many 
of  whose  names  have  been  preserved  by  contempo- 


2, 


19. — BRAHMANS  OK  BENGAL   (  =  ARYAs). 


rary  bards :  this  division  is  that  into  Aryas  and 
Dasyus.  Who  the  former  are  we  know  well,  and  a 
natural  association  leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  latter  are  no  other  than  the  native^ — or  non- 
Aryan — peoples  whom  the  Aryan  immigrants  found 
in  the  land,  and  whom,  after  a  long  period  of  strug- 
gle, they  reduced  into  more  or  less  reluctant  sub- 


EARLY  HISTORY. 


283 


mission.  There  is  no  doubt  but  that  we  have  here 
the  first  beginnings  of  caste,  for  this  sweeping  divi- 
sion is  singularly  like  the  modern  one  into  "  twice- 
born  "  and  Shudra.  Besides,  the  name  for  caste  is 
even  now  varna,  which  means  "  color,"  and  we  shall 
presently  see  that  the  difference  of  color  between 
the  white  conquerors  and  the  dark-skinned  natives  is 
continually  alluded  to  by  the  Vedic  poets.  Then, 
too,  the  word  Dasyu,  with  the  changes  of  meaning 


20. — LOW-CASTE   BENGALESE   (  =  DASYUS). 


it  has  undergone,  tells  an  eloquent  tale.  It  is  an 
old  Aryan  word,  and  the  Persians  continued  to  use 
it  in  its  original  harmless  sense  of  peoples,  nations. 
In  Dareios'  historical  rock  inscriptions  we  find  it  so 
used,  also  in  opposition  to  Aryas,  to  designate  the 
populations  of  the  provinces.  In  India  it  took  a 
hostile  shading — that  of  "  enemies,"  whence  it  easily 
passed  into  the  cloudland  of  Vedic  mythology,  with 
the  meaning  of  "fiends,"  "evil  demons," — the  pow- 


284  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ers  of  darkness  and  drought — the  "foes"  whom 
Indra  eternally  combats  and  conquers  with  the  help 
of  the  Maruts,  the  Angiras,  and  other  beings  of 
light.  Logical  and  natural  as  the  transition  is,  it 
adds  very  greatly  to  the  difficulties  of  Vedic  inter- 
pretation, because,  when  Indra  or  Agni  are  be- 
sought to  drive  away  and  annihilate  the  Dasyus,  or 
are  said  to  have  destroyed  the  fastnesses  of  the 
Dasyus,  it  is  frequently  all  but  impossible  to  decide 
ivJiich  "enemies"  are  meant — the  earthly  or  the 
mythical  ones.'  The  last  change  which  the  word 
underwent  is  very  significant :  it  ended  by  meaning 
simply  "  slave,  servant,"  (slightly  altered  into  ddsa), 
thus  telling  of  conquest  completed,  and  closely  an- 
swering the  more  modern  Shudra.  We  may,  then, 
set  down  as  correct  the  equation:  Arya  —  Dasyu  = 
"twice-born  "—Shudra.  And  if  any  more  proof 
be  wanted  of  the  fact  that  the  servile  class  was  made 
such  by  conquest,  we  have  it  in  a  passage  of  Manu's 
Code,  which  forbids  the  twice-born  to  associate  with 
a  Shudra  "  even  though  lie  zvere  a  king.''  What  can 
a  Shudra  king  be  but  a  native  sovereign  ? 

6.  It  were  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  loathing 
and  contempt  with  which  the  Aryas  regarded  those 
whom  they  were  robbing  of  land  and  liberty.  These 
feelings  primarily  aroused  by  that  most  ineradicable 
and  unreasoning  of  human  instincts,  race  antago- 
nism, find  vent  in  numberless  passages  of  great  value, 

^  How  easy  and  natural  the  step  from  "foe"  to  "fiend"  we  see 
from  the  very  word  "  fiend,"  which  originally  meant  both.  The 
"arch-fiend"  is  the  "arch-enemy"  of  mankind, — Erz-feind  the 
Germans  call  him  even  yet. 


EARLY  HISTORY.  285 

because  they  enable  us  to  piece  together  a  tolerably 
correct  picture  of  what  those  aborigines  must  have 
been,  and  in  what  manner  they  chiefly  contrasted 
with  their  conquerors.  The  difference  in  color  and 
cast  of  features  is  the  first  to  strike  us,  and  in  that, 
as  already  hinted,  we  trace  the  beginnings  of  caste 
distinction.  "  Destroying  the  Dasyus,  Indra  pro- 
tected the  Aryan  color,"  gratefully  proclaims  one 
poet.  "  Indra,"  says  another,  "  protected  in  battle 
the  Aryan  worshipper,  he  subdued  the  lawless  for 
Manu,  he  conquered  the  black  skifi.''  "  He  [Indra] 
beat  the  Dasyus  as  is  his  wont  ...  he  con- 
quered the  land  with  his  fair  [or  white]  friends.  .  .  ." 
Other  names  given  by  their  Aryan  conquerors  are 
"  goat-nosed  "  and  "  noseless  "  {anaso,  evidently  an 
exaggeration  of  "  flat-nosed  "),  while  the  Aryan  gods 
are  praised  for  their  beautiful  noses.  The  Dasyus 
are  accused  of  having  no  sacred  fires,  of  worshipping 
mad  gods,  of  eating  raw  meat,  and,  lastly,  it  woul^ 
appear  that  they  were  held  to  be  dangerous  sorcerers : 
"  Thou  [Indra]  hast  made  the  Dasa's  magic  powerless 
against  the  Rishi."  Needless  to  add  that  difference 
of  language  completed  the  barrier  which  the  victors 
later  strove  to  render  impassable. 

7.  Although  the  opposition  of  Arya  to  Dasyu  or 
Dasa,  of  "  twice-born "  to  Shudra,  is  a  perfectly 
established  and  intelligible  fact,  it  were  a  mistake  to 
see  in  "  Dasyu  "  or  "  Shudra  "  the  names  of  a  par- 
ticular nation:  they  applied  to  all  that  were  not 
Aryan,  somewhat  after  the  manner  that,  in  classic 
antiquity,  all  went  by  the  name  of  "  Barbarians  " 
who  were  not  Greeks  or  Romans.     It  is  suspected 


286  VEDIC  INDIA. 

that  "  Dasyu,"  in  a  slightly  different  form,  may  have 
been  originally  the  name  of  a  people  whom  the  Indo- 
Eranian  Aryas  encountered  and  fought  in  their 
wanderings  before  they  entered  the  Penjab.'  If  so, 
the  name  early  became  a  common  one  for  "  ene- 
mies," then  "  subjects,"  and  its  origin  was  thoroughly 
forgotten  by  both  Eranians  and  Aryas  of  India.  In 
point  of  fact,  the  fair-complexioned  worshippers  of 
Agni,  Indra,  and  Soma  found  tivo  widely  different 
races  in  possession.  These  were  undoubtedly  broken 
up  into  numerous  tribes,  with  different  names  and 
under  difTerent  kings, — as,  for  that  matter,  were  the 
Aryas  themselves.  The  Rig- Veda  teems  with  names 
which  at  first  produce  a  bewildering  impression  of 
chaotic  confusion  ;  but  we  shall  sec  that  the  patient 
labors  of  a  band  of  ingenious  and  untiring  searchers 
have  already  succeeded  in  bringing  some  kind  of 
order  into  this  confusion,  and  evolving  out  of  it 
something  that  may  be  called  a  twilight  of  history. 
This  groping  in  a  particularly  obscure  past,  unguided 
by  even  the  scantiest  monumental  evidence,  is  mate- 
rially aided  by  an   observant   study   of    the   mixed 

*  Nor  were  these  "  enemies"  always  and  necessarily  of  non-Aryan 
stock.  The  Dahae  (possibly  the  original  "  dasyus  ")  seem  to  have  been 
"  a  tribe  nearly  akin  to  the  Eranians,"  located  "  in  the  Kirghiz-Turk- 
man Steppe,  which  extends  from  the  Caspian  Sea  beyond  the  Yaxartes 
(now  Syr-Darya)."  See  Ed.  Meyer,  Geschichte  des  Altcrthums,  vol. 
i.,  §  425,  p.  525,  and  Hillebrandt,  Vedische  Myihologie,  vol.  i.,  pp. 
94-116.  In  this  most  important  chapter  it  is  also  suggested  to  iden- 
tify the  wealthy  robber  tribe  of  the  Panis  with  the  Farnians,  whom 
the  Greek  biographer  Strabo  describes  as  nomads — a  sort  of  Eranian 
Bedouins — having  their  abodes  along  the  Oxus  (modern  Amu-Darya), 
and  that  of  the  Pdrdvatas  or  "  Mountaineers,"  a  people  whom  the 
Vedic  Aryas  fought,  with  the  Parouctai,  dwelling  in  the  mountains, 
also  of  "  foreign"  Aryan  stock.     i^Ibid.,  pp.  97,  98.) 


i 


EARLY  HISTORY.  28/ 

population  of  India  in  our  own  times.  "  India," 
writes  Mr.  Hunter,  he  who,  of  living  men,  has  the 
most  thorough  and  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the 
immense  empire,  "  forms  a  great  museum  of  races, 
in  which  we  can  study  man  from  his  lowest  to  his 
highest  stages  of  culture. 

"A  museum  of  races  "  indeed  ;  and  no  one  could 
say  so  with  better  authority  than  the  writer  of  the 
above  lines,  since  he  compiled  and  published  a  dic- 
tionary of  the  non-Aryan  languages  of  India,  which 
comprises  ijg  languages  and  dialects !  Of  these  but 
very  few,  of  course,  can  lay  any  claim  to  literary 
worth ;  yet  the  names  of  several,  such  as  Tamil, 
Telugu,  Kanarese,  are  familiar  to  philologists,  and 
hold  their  well-defined  place  in  the  lists  of  important 
human  speeches.  They  form  two  groups,  represent- 
ing two  distinct  and  widely  different  types  or  families 
of  languages,  answering  to  the  two  main  stocks  or 
races  to  which  respectively  belong  the  various  non- 
Aryan  peoples — the  Dasyus  of  Vedic  antiquity,  the 
Shiidra  of  classical  Brahmanism,  the  *'  low-castes  "  of 
modern  Hinduism. 

8.  These  main  stocks  are  the  KOLARIANS  and  the 
Dravidians.  Both  came  into  the  land  at  a  pre- 
historic period  far  anterior  to  the  Aryan  invasion, 
from  two  opposite  sides :  the  Kolarians  from  the 
east,  or  northeast,  the  Dravidians  from  the  north- 
west— possibly  through  the  very  passes  which  later 
admitted  the  Aryan  tide.  If,  as  is  probable,  they 
found  an  older  aboriginal  population,  no  traces  what- 
ever are  left  of  that — unless  some  of  the  numerous 
sepulchral  mounds  be  theirs,  and  of  the  rude  monu- 
ments made  of  unhewn  stone  and  of  upright  slabs. 


288  VEDIC  INDIA. 

forming  the  combinations  known  in  Western  Europe 
by  the  Celtic  names  of  "  dolmens  "  and  "  menhirs,"  and 
circles  and  avenues,  like  those  of  Stonehenge  in  Eng- 
land, and  Karnak  in  Brittany.  Even  these  crudest 
forms  of  monumental  art  cover  presumably  several 
centuries,  for,  although  they  betray  no  attempt  at 
either  writing  or  decoration,  they  represent  two  stages 
of  culture,  since  in  some  only  flint  implements  and  the 
roughest  of  pottery  are  found,  while  others  contain 
iron  weapons,  gold  and  copper  ornaments.  It  is 
thought  that  the  Kolarians  came  first,  and  after 
spreading  over  the  regions  now  known  as  Assam  and 
Bengal,  encountered  the  Dravidian  current,  which 
was  pushing  on  from  the  other  end,  somewhere  in 
the  Vindhya  highlands,  about  the  centre  of  the  land, 
where  they  converged, — or  rather  collided,  and 
crossed  each  other,  the  weaker  Kolarians  being 
broken  up  by  the  shock,  and  dispersing  among  the 
valleys  and  forests  of  this  most  intricate,  though  but 
moderately  high  mountain-ridge,  while  the  more 
hardy,  more  vigorous  Dravidians  swept  on  and 
through  the  ridge,  and  flooded  the  South.' 

'  Mr,  J.  F.  Hewitt,  whose  novel  and  extremely  valuable  papers  on 
the  "  Early  History  of  Northern  India"  {youi-n.  of  the  Hoy.  Asiat. 
Socit'ty,  tS88  and  1889)  are  freely  used  throughout  this  chapter,  makes 
the  following  very  explicit  statement:  "Wherever  the  three  races 
have  formed  part  of  the  now  amalgamated  population,  the  Kolarian 
tribes  were  the  earliest  settlers,  as  we  always  find  them  driven  into 
the  worst  lands  in  districts  where  they  live  together  with  the  other  races. 
That  they  came  from  the  East  is  shown  by  the  following  facts  :  First, 
they  themselves  always  say  that  they  did  so  ;  secondly,  the  most 
powerful  and  purest  Kolarian  tribes  are  found  in  the  East  ;  thirdly, 
their  languages  are  allied  to  those  used  on  the  Brahmaputra  and  the 
Irawaddy  by  the  Kambojans  and  the  Assamese." 


Mi 


290  VEDIC  INDIA. 

9.  The  descendants  of  the  two  non-Aryan  races 
are,  even  at  the  present  day,  easily  distinguished  by 
their  different  customs,  traits  of  character,  and  re- 
hgions.  The  Kolarians  are  by  far  the  gentler.  As 
their  chief  representative  tribe  may  be  considered 
the  Santals,  who  were  a  million  strong  in  1872  and 
who  have  their  home  among  the  hills  abutting  on 
the  Ganges  in  Lower  Bengal.  They  are  among  the 
more  advanced  of  the  pure-blooded  non-Aryan  tribes 
and  have  not  adopted  anything  whatever  from  their 
conquerors'  civilization.  They  have  no  castes  or 
kings,  but  live  in  frte  village  communities.  Their 
religion  amounts  to  little  more  than  spirit  and  demon 
worship  :  besides  the  spirits  of  the  forefathers — 
which  the  Kolarians,  like  the  Dravidians,  the  Aryans, 
and  all  known  races,  worshipped  originally  from  fear 
of  their  ghosts — there  are  those  that  dwell  in  each 
mountain,  forest,  river,  well ;  there  is  the  race-god, 
the  clan-god,  and  the  god  or  spirit  of  each  family. 
These  tutelary  spirits  are  supposed  to  dwell  in  large, 
ancient  trees.  This  is  why — -for  the  modern  Hindus 
have  incorporated  into  their  Brahmanic  creed  this 
native  superstition  along  with  many  less  harmless 
ones — there  is  in  or  just  outside  almost  every  vil- 
lage some  gigantic  tree  Avhich  is  at  once  temple, 
shrine,  and  meeting-place,  often,  too,  the  only  host- 
elry for  pedestrians  to  rest  in  ;  the  vast  circle  of 
shade  which  such  a  tree  casts  around  thus  becomes 
the  centre  of  village  life  ;  it  even  does  duty  as  a 
mart  or  fair  ground,  where  peddlers  and  itinerant 
venders  of  cakes,  fruit,  etc.,  dispose  their  booths  and 
stands,   jugglers,  and   snake-charmers    exhibit   their 


EARLY  HISTORY. 


291 


tricks.  Sacrifices  are  offered  to  the  resident  spirits — 
of  cakes,  honey,  milk,  if  the  people  are  Hindus,  of 
small  animals  and  fowls  if  they  belong  to  other  races, 
— and  the  branches  flutter  gaily  with  the  ornaments 
and  ex-votos  hung  upon  them.     If  such  a  tree,  as  is 


K.;^* 


?^^^ 


22. — SANTAL   TYPKS. 


often  the  case,  happens  to  be  a  banyan,  with  its  myste- 
rious, self-planted  avenues,  and  its  tiers  of  leafy  gal- 
leries, it  becomes  a  suburb  in  itself,  and  the  effect, 
to  a  foreigner's  eyes,  is  indescribably  picturesque  and 
original.  These  solitary,  sacred  trees  appear  to  be  a 
survival  of    the  very  ancient   practice  observed  by 


292  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  Kolarians  when  they  first  began  to  clear  the 
forests  which  barred  their  way — that  of  leaving  a 
portion  of  it  untouched  and  sacred  to  the  forest 
spirits,' 

10.  Of  the  Dravidian  race,  tribes  are  scattered 
through  the  central  Vindhya  region,  while  its  bulk 
has,  from  pre-Aryan  times  to  this  day,  covered  the 
entire  three-sided  table-land  sweepingly  named  Dek- 
han.  In  moral  characteristics  they,  from  the  first, 
strongly  contrasted  with  the  Kolarians.  They  too 
live  in  village  communities,  but  under  a  rule  which 
leans  more  to  the  monarchic  type,  and,  in  all  their 
ways,  they  show  more  public  spirit.  Equally  good 
traders  and  farmers,  they  are  patient,  laborious,  stead- 
fast, and  loyal — the  material  out  of  which  the  Eng- 
lish trained  some  of  those  Sepoy  Regiments  which 
stood  by  Clive  and  Hastings  through  untold  hard- 
ships and  dangers,  and  some  of  which — far  more  ad- 
mirable still — did  not  waver  in  their  loyalty  through 
the  late  rebellion.  Unfortunately,  their  religion  is  of 
a  most  barbarous  character,  and  has  exercised  a 
baneful  influence  on  that  of  the  Aryan  and  semi- 
Aryan  population,  which  professes  the  medley  of 
Vedism,  Brahmanism,  and  native  gross  superstitions, 
now  known  as  Hinduism.  They  share  the  Kolarians' 
belief  in  spirits  and  goblins,  and  their  priests  are 
conjurers  versed   in   all  the   practices   and  tricks  of 

>  That  the  Kolarians  were  the  first  to  clear  the  forests  and  till  the 
land,  Mr.  Hewitt  is  very  positive  ;  he  even  thinks  that,  although  they 
learned  the  use  of  iron  very  early,  and  cut  the  trees  with  iron  weap- 
ons, the  great  number  of  stone  axes  or  celts  found  in  various  localities 
makes  it  probable  that  they  did  some  clearing  work  with  stone  im- 
plements before  they  found  out  the  use  of  iron. 


EARLY  HISTORY.  293 

Shamanism.  But  this  is  a  subordinate  part  of  their 
religion.  The  most  essential  feature  of  it  is  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Earth,  in  the  form  of  both  god  and  god- 
dess, as  the  giver  and  maintainer  of  hfe,  and  the 
adoration  of  the  Snake  as  the  Earth-god's  special 
emblem.  The  Snake-god  or  King  of  Snakes  is  the 
wise  and  gigantic  serpent  Shesh — a  name  which  casts 
a  singularly  vivid  side-light  on  one  of  the  many 
puzzles  with  which  the  Rig-Veda  still  teems.  In 
several  of  those  passages  in  which  the  priestly  poets 
exhaust  their  ingenuity  inventing  abusive  epithets  for 
their  Dasyu  foes,  they  call  them,  with  scathing  con- 
tempt, SJnsJuia-dcvas,  literally  :  "  whose  God  is 
Shishna  or  Shesh."  The  inference  suggests  itself 
almost  irresistibly,  and,  moreover,  leads  us  to  suspect 
that  many  a  passage  wherein  serpents  and  dragon- 
monsters  are  mentioned,  may  have  a  more  direct  and 
realistic  meaning  than  was  hitherto  supposed.  Thus, 
with  regard  to  the  ever-recurring  battle  between  In- 
dra  and  Ahi,  "  the  Serpent,"  invariably  ending  with 
the  Aryan  champion-god's  victory,  we  cannot  help 
asking  ourselves  :  have  we  really  ahvays  to  do  with 
a  nature-myth  ?  is  that  battle  only  an  incident  of  the 
atmospheric  drama,  and  is  the  Serpent  ahvays  and 
inevitably  a  Cloud-Serpent  ?  By  the  light  of  later 
ethnological  studies,  another  and  even  simpler  in- 
terpretation lies  temptingly  near  :  may  not  the  ser- 
pent sometimes  personate  the  Serpent-god  of  the 
Snake-worshippers — the  SJiisJuia-devas — and  the  bat- 
tle between  the  Aryan  champion-god  and  the  Dasyu 
sacred  emblem  thus  resolve  itself  into  a  poetical 
version  of  the  long  race-strife  ?     It  is  certain,  at  all 


294  VEDIC  INDIA. 

events,  that,  in  the  enthusiasm  and  novelty  of  recent 
discovery,  mythical  interpretation  has  been  greatly 
overdone,  and,  just  as  the  word  "  Dasyu,"  which  was 
at  first  declared  to  designate  only  the  demons  (of 
darkness,  drought,  or  winter)  whom  the  bright  devas 
fought,  is  proved  to  apply  quite  as  often  to  earthly, 
human  foes ;  so  the  cloud-serpent  of  the  uncompro- 
mising myth-theory  may  very  well  turn  out  to  be, 
quite  frequently,  an  allegorical  presentation  of  the 
object  of  those  foes'  superstitious  adoration.  We 
are  often  brought  down  to  earth  from  Cloudland 
with  as  unceremonious  a  shock. 

II.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  snake-wor- 
ship, utterly  un-Aryan  as  it  is,  made  a  profound  im- 
pression on  the  white  invaders,  so  much  so  that,  in 
the  course  of  time, an  Aryan  snake-god — Ariaka — 
was  invented  ;  an  impression  plainly  discernible,  too, 
in  the  prominent  place  given  to  the  Nagas  (snakes 
and,  snake-people,  half-human,  half  serpentine  in 
form  and  possessed  of  supernatural  wisdom)  in  the 
later  classical  poetry.  They  play  an  important  part, 
too,  in  modern  Hinduism,  which  has  instituted  a 
yearly  festival  in  honor,  not  of  mythical  serpents, 
but  of  the  real,  live  snakes,  which  do  not  ap- 
pear to  strike  this  apathetic  people  with  a  loathing 
and  terror  at  all  proportionate  to  the  havoc  they 
play  with  human  life  (see  p.  40).  This  festival, 
which  comes  round  towards  the  end  of  July,  is  of 
a  decidedly  propitiatory  character.  Pilgrims  flock  to 
the  Naga-shrines  which  abound  in  certain  districts  ; 
the  cities  teem  with  snake-charmers,  whose  weird 
charges   eagerly   crawl   around    the   pans  with   milk 


295 


>3. — FESllVAL    <Ji'    SLKPfc-NIb. 


296  VEDIC  INDIA. 

placed  at  intervals  on  the  ground  in  all  the  principal 
thoroughfares,  before  the  admiring  eyes  of  a  devout 
and  festive  throng.' 

12.  Repulsive  and  uncanny  as  this,  to  us  unnatu- 
ral, worship  appears,  it  is,  on  the  whole,  harmless, 
and  we  might  dismiss  it  with  a  shrug.  Not  so  the 
crowning  feature  of  the  Dravidian  religion — human 
sacrifices,  which  have  been  in  constant  and  universal 
use  among  all  the  tribes  of  this  ancient  race  until 
put  a  stop  to  by  the  English  quite  lately — in  the 
case  of  the  Kandhs  and  GONDHS,  two  representa- 
tive and  advanced  Dravidian  tribes,  not  till  1835. 
Human  victims — cither  bought  or  kidnapped — were 
offered  to  the  Earth-god  regularly  twice  a  year,  at 
seed-time  and  harvest-time,  and  on  special  occasions, 
when  some  public  need  or  calamity  appeared  to  call 
for  conciliation  or  atonement.  Nothing  can  be  more 
averse  to  the  Aryan  spirit  than  such  sacrifices,  at  least 
at  the  stage  of  moral  development  at  which  we  be- 
come acquainted  with  the  race  ;  yet  such  is  the  influ- 
ence of  long  contact  and  habit,  that  we  find  even 
this  horrible  practice  adopted  by  modern  Hinduism 
in  one  of  its  two  principal  sects  (Shivaism).  The 
pure  Brahmanism  of  the  post-vedic  and  classical 
periods  was  not  guilty  of  any  such  compromise,  and 
such  was  the  horror  with  which  these  aborigines  in- 

*  It  is  worthy  of  notice  :  ist,  that  temples  dedicated  to  serpents  are 
not  found  in  the  North  of  India  ;  2d,  that  the  priests  of  such  tem- 
ples are  never  Brahmans,  but  belong  to  the  lower  castes.  Indeed,  the 
old  Aryan  spirit  is  so  much  alive  still  in  the  noble  castes,  that  they 
hold  the  serpent  to  be  of  evil  omen  and  a  Brahman,  if  he  happens  to 
see  one  in  the  morning,  will  give  up  for  that  day  whatever  work  or 
errand  he  may  have  on  hand. 


EARLY  HISTORY. 


297 


spired  the  Aryan  Hindus,  that  their  always  exuberant 
fancy  transformed  them  into  a  race  of  cannibal  giants, 


24. — GONDH   TYPES. 


fiends,  and  wizards,  possessed  of  supernatural  pow- 
ers and  every  evil  art  that  magic  can  lend,  even 
to  that  of  flying  through  space  and  assuming  any 


298  VEDIC  INDIA. 

form  at  will — thus  transferring  to  them  the  attrib- 
utes of  the  old  Vedic  cloud-demons  whose  place 
they  took  in  the  classical  mythology  of  the  race. 
These  Rakshasas,  whose  horrible  aspect  and  mur- 
derous wickedness  make  them  the  counterpart — or 
possibly  the  prototype — of  our  nurseries'  Ogre,  are 
described  as  taking  especial  delight  in  defiling  sac- 
rifices, disturbing  the  devotions  of  pious  forest  her- 
mits, or  leading  them  into  unseemly  temptations, 
carrying  off  pure  and  holy  maidens,  and  opposing,  by 
force  or  wile,  the  advance  of  the  fire-worshipping, 
Soma-pressing  "  friends  of  the  Devas,"  The  Rama- 
yana  is  full  of  their  evil  prowesses ;  indeed  the 
Rakshasas  clearly  stand  out  as  the  main  obstacle 
encountered  by  Rama  in  his  campaign  against  Cey- 
lon, which  embodies  in  heroic  and  epic  guise  the 
Aryan  invasion  of  the  South,'  although  it  was  in 
reality  neither  so  rapid,  nor  quite  so  successful  as  the 
national  poem  would  lead  us  to  think.  It  was  not  so 
much  an  invasion  as  an  advance,  and  we  can  easily 
imagine  that  it  must  have  been  an  achievement  of 
no  small  difificulty  for  a  body  of  men  necessarily 
very  inferior  in  numbers,  in  the  face  of  a  compact 
population,  brave,  stubborn,  and  strongly  organized. 
Such  the  Dravidians  are  now,  when  they  number 
over  twenty-eight  millions  south  of  the  Vindhya,  and 
there  is  not  the  slightest  reason  to  doubt  that  such, 
in  the  main,  they  were  at  the  early  time  of  their 
long  patriotic  struggle. 

^  See  Frontispiece — the  Rakshasa  king  of  Lanka,  Ravana,  with 
ten  heads  and  ten  pair  of  arms,  each  wielding  a  different  weapon, 
defending  his  island  at  the  head  of  his  hosts  of  black  giants. 


EARLY  HISTORY.  299 

13.  We  are  often  told  to  look  on  the  non-Aryan 
peoples  of  modern  India  if  we  would  picture  to  our- 
selves those  whom  the  Aryan  immigrants  had  to 
deal  with  from  the  moment  they  set  foot  in  the 
land  of  the  Seven  Rivers.  "  Many  of  the  aboriginal 
tribes,"  writes  Mr.  Hunter,  "  remain  in  the  same 
early  stage  of  human  progress  as  that  ascribed  to 
them  by  the  Vedic  poets  more  than  3000  years 
ago."  The  instances  of  which  he  proceeds  to  give 
a  list  show  conclusively  that,  in  this  wonderful 
country,  the  human  race  presents  as  great  a  variety 
as  the  animal  and  vegetable  worlds,  and  covers  the 
entire  range  of  possible  development,  from  pole  to 
pole,  oil  highest  culture  and  spirituality,  reached  ages 
ago  by  some  of  its  denizens,  down  to  the  lowest 
depths  in  which  degraded  humanity  can  drag  itself 
and  be  human  still.  We  seem  to  listen  to  the  gro- 
tesque fancies  of  a  dream — wild  even  for  a  dream — 
when  we  are  told  of  people  who  live,  or  at  least 
huddle  together  for  shelter,  in  kennel-huts,  six  feet 
by  eight,  wear  no  clothing  but  bunches  of  leaves 
fastened  to  a  string  of  beads  that  encircles  the  waist, 
and  use  flint  weapons,  not  having  even  words  for 
any  metals  in  their  language,  thus  affording  us  a 
startling  glimpse  of  the  Stone  Age,  a  survival  not 
even  of  the  highest  type  of  that  age's  civilization. 
Yet  such  a  tribe,  under  the  graphic  name  of  "  Leaf- 
wearers,"  actually  exists,  in  the  hilly  districts  of 
Orissa,  not  very  far  from  Calcutta  ;  it  was  ten  thou- 
sand strong  in  1872,  and  though  a  considerable  por- 
tion were  persuaded  by  the  English  authorities  to 
adopt  some  kind   of  clothing  and  given  the  neces- 


300 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


sary  cotton  material,  it  is  reported  that  many  have 
since  returned  to  their  foliage  costume.  Not  much 
higher  rank  certain  broken  tribes  who  live  in  the 
mountains  south  of  Madras,  with  no  fixed  dwel- 
lings of  any  sort,  wandering  about  in  the  wildest 
recesses,  only  resting  or  seeking  temporary  shelter 
under  little  improvised  leaf-sheds — existing  on  jungle 
products,  mice,  and  other  such  small  animals  as  they 
can  catch, — and  worshipping  wicked  demons,  so  that 
the  question  which  naturally  occurred  to  them  when 


24. 


-ANCIENT  TYPE  OF  DWELLINGS  DISCOVERED  IN  THE  HIMALAYAS, 
AMONG    NON-ARYAN   TRIBES. 


missionaries  told  them  of  a  great  and  all-powerful 
God  was  :  "  And  what  if  that  Mighty  One  should 
eat  us  ?  "  Some  hill-tribes  of  Assam  are  described 
as  "  fierce,  black,  undersized,  and  ill-fed."  Until 
very  lately  they  lived  on  their  more  peaceable  and 
industrious  neighbors  of  the  plains — in  what  man- 
ner can  be  gathered  from  the  names  of  two  such 
clans,  which,  translated,  mean  respectively,  "  The 
Eaters  of  a  Thousand  Hearths  "  and  "  The  Thieves 
who  Lurk  in  the  Cotton-field." 


EARLY  HISTORY. 


301 


14.  Doubtless,  such  were  some — many,  of  the  ab- 
origines, or  Dasyus,  whom  the  Aryan  immigrants 
found  in  possession,  and  whom  they  drove  before 
them  or  reduced  to  subjection,  certainly  with  no 
gentle  hand.  But  it  were  a  great  and  fatal  mistake 
— fatal  to  sound  historical  criticism — were  we  to 
imagine  that  the  entire  population  of  the  land  stood 
on  this  lowest  level  of  barbarism.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  this  error  was,  at  one  time,  only  too  generally 
entertained  ;  but  it  could  proceed  only  from  a  supcr- 


25. — ANCIENT  TYPE  OF  DWELLINGS  DISCOVERED  IN  THE  HIMALAYAS, 
AMONG  NON-ARYAN  TRIBES. 


ficial  study  of  the  Rig- Veda,  or  from  insufficient 
means  of  research  on  a  field  so  very  lately  opened  ; 
or — and  it  is  probable  that  this  was  a  frequent 
and  fruitful  source  of  error — from  too  blind  a  con- 
fidence in  certain  theories  which,  indeed,  had  an 
ample  foundation  of  truth,  so  that  the  fault  lay  not 
so  much  in  them  as  in  the  exaggerated  enthusiasm 
which  accepted  them  too  unconditionally,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  other  elements.     Comparative  Mythology 


302  VEDIC  INDIA. 

is  a  new  science  even  now.  Its  first  discoveries, 
some  forty  years  ago,  coupled  with  those  of  its  twin- 
science,  Comparative  Philology,  were  so  startling 
that  they  dazzled  its  votaries.  The  Sun-and-Dawn 
Myth  and  the  Storm  Myth,  ubiquitously  identical, 
were  a  revelation,  the  "  Open  Sesame  "  to  a  long  list 
of  puzzles,  in  which  problems  of  race,  language,  re- 
ligion, poetry,  had  been  heretofore  tangled  into  a 
very  jungle  of  mostly  unanswerable  questions,  which, 
however,  pleasantly,  untwined  at  the  touch  of  the 
new  talisman — the  key,  as  was  believed,  to  every 
lock.  A  band  of  brilliant  scholars  took  hold  of  the 
Rig-Veda  and  subjected  it,  hymn  after  hymn,  verse 
by  verse,  to  the  mythological  system  of  interpreta- 
tion which  it  had  first  suggested  and  splendidly  justi- 
fied, and  under  their  deft,  ingenious  fingers  there 
grew  a  world  of  gods  and  demons,  a  world  that  was 
not  of  earth  and  in  which  humanity  had  no  part, 
save  in  the  persons  of  priests  and  worshippers.  By 
a  sleight-of-hand,  of  which  the  trick  became  very  easy 
to  catch,  every  king  or  hero  became  an  impersona- 
tion of  the  Sun  or  the  Thunderer,  every  maiden 
was  the  Dawn,  every  enemy  a  fiend  of  Darkness  or 
Drought,  and  in  this  manner  all  the  proper  names, 
with  which  the  Rig-Veda  bristles,  were  accounted  for 
niytJiically,  without  leaving  a  loophole  for  History  to 
put  in  a  timid  claim.  A  closer,  more  dispassionate 
study,  conducted  by  a  later,  more  cool-headed  gen- 
eration of  scholars — cool,  because  not  elated  with 
the  fever  of  the  discoverer,  the  pioneer — revealed 
that  many  of  the  hymns  were  invaluable  historical 
documents,  commemorating   real    events,   and    per- 


EARLY  HISTORY.  303 

petuating  the  names  of  the  leading  actors  therein. 
And  it  becomes  patent  that  probably  a  majority  of 
the  common  names,  which  were  sweepingly  set  down 
as  names  of  fiends  and  other  supernatural  agents, 
really  are  those  of  tribes,  peoples,  and  men,  while 
many  an  alleged  atmospheric  battle  turns  out  to 
have  been  an  honest,  sturdy  hand-to-hand  conflict 
between  bona-fide  human,  mortal  champions. 

15.  It  is  a  thousand  pities  that  the  Rig-Veda  does 
not  contain  history  in  the  direct  narrative  or  epic 
form,  but  only  in  that  indirect  and  fragmentary  form 
which  is  known  as  "  internal  evidence."  The  reason 
is  that  the  book  represents,  not  a  simple  and  primi- 
tive stage  of  culture,  as  has  been,  somewhat  rashly, 
taken  for  granted  for  a  number  of  years,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  an  advanced  and  complex  one,  which  had 
developed  some  essential  social  institutions,  such  as 
royalty,  aristocracy,  and  priesthood,  in  clean-cut, 
strongly  set  frames,  on  the  background  of  an  already 
long  and  eventful  national  past.  The  consequence 
is  that  the  hymns  which  we  may  designate  as  in  a 
specially  direct  sense  "historical"  ones,  are  full  of 
allusions  to  occurrences  which  every  one  is  supposed 
to  know  about,  of  names  familiar  to  all.  And  where 
the  occurrences  and  the  names  do  belong  exclusively 
to  the  world  of  Myth,  that  also  was  too  well  and  too 
generally  understood  to  require  explanation.  Thus 
it  comes  to  pass  that  the  kernel  of  historical  fact  for 
which  we  seek  is,  to  us  late-comers,  unaided  as  we 
are  by  any  thinnest  thread  of  memory  or  tradition, 
imbedded  in  an  almost  impenetrable  thickness  of 
hardest    outer    shells     and    prickliest    burrs.      Yet 


304  VEDIC  INDIA. 

enough  very  essential  facts  have  already  been 
elicited  by  close  and  minute  study,  to  form  an  inter- 
esting and  on  the  whole  not  unreliable  general  pre- 
sentation of  the  Aryan  advance  from  their  first 
quarters  in  the  Penjab  eastward  to  that  vast  region 
watered  by  the  historical  Ganges  and  Djumna,  which 
became  the  centre  and  headquarters  of  the  race  when 
the  Vedic  era  had  glided  by  and  merged  into  the 
Brahmanic  period. 

1 6.  Scant  as  we  think  the  material  which  the  Rig- 
Veda  supplies  for  a  reconstruction  of  an  age  too 
remote  to  be  called  epic,  let  alone  historical,  the  re- 
sults obtained  are  yet  important  enough  to  justify 
an  epitome  of  them  even  in  a  popular  work  so  neces- 
sarily limited  in  scope  and  space  as  the  present.  A 
few  broad  strokes  of  the  brush  will  sketch  an  outline 
which  will  keep  filling  itself  in  with  every  added  de- 
tail or  scrap  of  internal  evidence,  from  the  moment 
the  point  of  view  and  the  perspective  are  properly 
established — and  it  is  these  which  will  have  to  be. 
shifted  considerably  from  the  originally  accepted 
long  maintained  lines,  producing,  on  the  whole,  an 
entirely  different  picture,  and  one  which,  while  it 
opens  out  a  vista  into  a  remoter  past  than  was  here- 
tofore credited  to  our  knowledge  of  India,  presents 
some  (if  we  may  so  express  it)  startlingly  modern 
features  ;  only  another  way  of  reasserting  what  has 
been  found  out  by  philosophizing  students  of  our 
race  so  many  ages  ago  as  to  have  become  a  truism, 
namely  that  "  history  repeats  itself,"  and  that "  there 
is  nothing  new  under  the  sun." 

17.  Thirty-five   years    ago    no    one    would    have 


EARLY  HISTORY.  3O5 

thought  of  connecting  India  (pre-Aryan  India),  with 
archaic  Babylonia,  and  if  a  soHtary  fact  pointing  that 
way  was  once  in  a  while  picked  out  by  an  excep- 
tionally inquisitive  and  observant  mind,  it  was  suf- 
fered to  remain  unexplained,  as  a  sort  of  natural 
curiosity,  for  the  inferences  it  suggested  were  too 
startling  to  be  more  than  hinted  at.  Eminently 
such  a  mind  was  the  late  Francois  Lenormant,  and 
he  laid  great  stress  on  the  use  of  the  word  mand  as 
early  as  the  Rig- Veda,  to  denote  a  definite  quantity 
of  gold  ' — a  word  which  can  be  traced  to  ancient 
Chaldea,  or  Semitic  Babylonia,  with  the  same  mean- 
ing, and  which  afterwards  passed  into  the  Greek 
monetary  system  {iiuid,  still  later  latinized  into 
mind).  Well,  this  little  fact  simply  points  to  a 
well  established  commercial  in-tercourse  between 
Dravidian  India  (for  the  Kolarians  never  came  as  far 
west  as  the  land  by  the  Indian  Ocean)  and  Babylonia 
or  Chaldea.  And  now,  years  after,  chance  brings 
two  more  discoveries,  individually  as  trifling;  yet, 
linked  together,  the  three  form  a  chain  of  evidence 
as  complete  as  it  is  strong.  In  the  ruins  of  Mugheir, 
ancient  Ur  of  the  Chaldees,  built  by  Ur-Ea  (or  Ur- 
Bagash)  the  first  king  of  united  Babylonia,  who  ruled 
not  less  than  3000  years  B.C.,  was  found  a  piece  of 
Indian  teak. "  This  evidence  is  exceptionally  con- 
clusive because,  as  it  happens,  this  particular  tree  is 
to  be  located  with  more  than  ordinar}^  accuracy  :  it 
grows  in  Southern  India  (Dekhan)  where  it  advances 

'  Rig-Veda  viii.,  67  (or  78),  2  :   "  Oh  bring  us  jewels,  cattle,  horses, 
and  a  mand  of  gold." 

*  Sayce,  Hihbeit  Lectures  for  18S7,  pp,  18,  136,  137. 


3o6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

close  to  the  Malabar  coast,  and  nowhere  else ;  there 
is  none  north  of  the  Vindhya.  Then  again,  the 
precious  vocabularies  and  lists  of  all  kinds  of  things 
and  names  which  those  precise  old  Babylonians  were 
so  fond  of  making  out  and  which  have  given  us  so 
many  startling  surprises,  come  to  the  fore  with  a  bit 
of  very  choice  information,  namely  that  the  old 
Babylonian  name  for  muslin  was  sindJiii,  i.  e.  that 
the  stuff  was  simply  called  by  the  name  of  the  coun- 
try which  exported  it. 

1 8.  This  is  very  strong  corroborative  evidence  of 
several  important  facts,  viz  .  that  the  Aryan  settlers 
of  Northern  India  had  already  begun,  at  an  amazingly 
early  period,  to  excel  in  the  manufacture  of  the 
delicate  tissue  which  has  ever  been  and  is  to  this  day 
— doubtless  in  incomparably  greater  perfection — one 
of  their  industrial  glories,  a  fact  which  implies  culti- 
vation of  the  cotton  plant  or  tree,  probably  in  Vedic 
times  already' ; — that  their  Dravidian  contemporaries 
were  enterprising  traders ;  that  the  relations  be- 
tween the  two  races  were  by  no  means  of  an  exclu- 
sively hostile  and  warlike  nature.  For,  if  the  name 
sindJm  proves  the  stuff  to  have  been  an  Aryan  pro- 
duct, it  was  certainly  not  Aryan  export  trade  which 

'  It  is  well  known  that  our  name  for  the  fine  and  dainty  fabric 
called  ' '  muslin  "  {nwusseline)  is  derived  from  that  of  the  city  on  the 
Tigris,  Mosul,  which,  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  and  to  the  present 
day,  has  been  famous  for  its  fabrication.  How  long  before — who  can 
tell  ?  An  imaginative  and  inquisitive  mind  might  wonder  whether, 
if  all  the  links  could  be  recovered  and  joined  together,  this  particu- 
lar industry  might  not  be  traceable  to  those  almost  prehistoric 
commercial  relations  between  Dravidian  India  and  Chaldean  Baby- 
lonia. Did  the  latter  learn  the  art  from  India  and  import  the  cotton 
from  there — and  did  the  Assyrians  carry  it  north  along  with  other 
arts  ?    A  stupendous  issue  to  hang  on  so  frail  a  thing ! 


EARLY  HISTORY.  307 

supplied  the  foreign  markets  with  it,  for  there  was  no 
such  trade,  the  Aryas  of  Penjab  not  being  acquainted 
with  the  sea,  or  the  construction  of  sea-going  ships. 
It  is  clear  that  the  weaving  of  fine  stuffs  must  have 
been  an  Aryan  home-industry  ;  that  Dravidian  trad- 
ers— probably  itinerant  merchants  or  peddlers — col- 
lected the  surplus  left  over  from  home  consumption, 
certainly  in  the  way  of  barter,  the  goods  then  finding 
their  way  to  some  commercial  centre  on  the  western 
coast,  where  the  large  vessels  lay  which  carried  on  the 
regular  export  and  import  trade.  All  this  internal 
evidence  is  still  further  strengthened  by  another  item 
of  information  which,  though  coming  from  a  very 
different  quarter,  dovetails  into  it  exactly.  Professor 
Max  Miiller  has  long  ago  shown  that  the  names  of 
certain  rare  articles  which  King  Solomon's  trading 
ships  brought  him,  were  not  originally  Hebrew.' 
These  articles  are  sandal-wood  (indigenous  on  the 
Malabar  coast  and  nowhere  else),  ivory,  apes  and 
peacocks,  and  their  native  names,  which  could  easily 
be  traced  through  the  Hebrew  corruptions,  have  all 
along  been  set  down  as  Sanskrit,  being  common  words 
of  that  language.  But  now,  quite  lately,  an  eminent 
Dravidian  scholar  and  specialist  brings  proof  that 
they  are  really  Dravidian  words,  introduced  into 
Sanskrit."  This  is  a  dazzling  ray  of  light,  and  proof 
so  conclusive,  when  added  to  an  already  strong  and 
compact  case,  that  further  corroborative  evidence 
would  be  welcome,  but  scarcely  necessary.' 

*  Science  of  Language,  First  Series,  pp.  203,  204  (1862). 

'  Dr.  Caldwell,  Introduction  to  his  Comparative  Grammar  of  the 
Dravidian  Languages. 

^  Compare  the  sculptures  on  Shalmaneser's  Black  Obelisk,  Story 
of  Assyria,  pp.  185-195, 


308  VEDIC  INDIA. 

19.  The  late  Greek  historian  Arrian  mentions  a 
maritime  city,  Patala,  as  the  only  place  of  note  in 
the  delta  of  the  Indus.  This  city,  very  probably  the 
port  from  which  the  muslin  went  forth,  and  which  is 
identified  with  modern  Hyderabad,  is  renowned  in 
legend  and  epos  as  the  capital  of  a  king  of  the  Snake 
race — /.  e.,  a  Dravidian  king — who  ruled  a  large  part 
of  the  surrounding  country.  This  native  dynasty  is 
closely  connected  with  the  mythical  traditions  of  the 
two  races,  through  its  founder,  King  Vasuki — a 
name  which  at  once  recalls  the  great  Serpent  Vasuki, 
who  played  so  important,  if  passive,  a  part  on  a  mem- 
orable mythic  occasion  (see  p.  187).  The  connection 
between  the  Dravidians  of  Northern  and  Western 
India  and  the  first  Babylonian  Empire, — the  Baby- 
lonia of  the  Shumiro-Accads,  before  the  advent  of 
the  Semites'  —becomes  less  surprising  when  we 
realize  that  there  was  between  them  something  more 
than  chance  relations,  that  they  were  in  fact  of  the 
same  race  or  stock — that  which  is  broadly  designated 
as  Turanian.  Philology  points  that  way,  for  the 
Dravidian  languages  are  agglutinative ;  craniology 
will  not  disprove  the  affinity,  for  a  glance  at  the 
Gondh  types  on  illustration  No.  23,  and  the  turbaned 
head  of  Tell-Loh  (Accadian  Sirgulla)  will  show  the 
likeness  in  features  and  shape."  But  even  more  con- 
vincing is  the  common  sacred  symbol — the  Serpent, 
the  emblem  of  the  worship  of  Earth,  with  its  mystery, 
its  wealth  and  its  forces.  The  Accadian  supreme 
god    Ea   was   worshipped    at    his   holiest   shrine  at 

'  See  Story  of  Chaldea^  ch.  iij.,  "Turanian  Chaldea,"  and  ch.  iv, 
"^  IHd.,  p.  214. 


EARL  Y  HISTOR  V. 


309 


Eridhu  under  the  form  of  a  Serpent,  and   as  Eridhu 
was  the  centre  from  which  the  first  Chaldean  civihza- 


26. HEAD    OF   ANCIENT   CHALDF AX.        FROM   TELL-LOH    (SIRGULLA.) 

SARZEC  COJ.LECTIoN.      (aP.OIT  40OO  B.C.) 


27. — SAME,  PROFILE  VIEW. 

tion  started  and  spread,  so  the  serpent-symbol  was 
accepted  as  that  of  the  race  and  its  religion.*     The 

'  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp.  215,  246,  287. 


3IO  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Turanian  Proto-Medes  also,  before  they  were  con- 
quered by  the  Aryan  followers  of  Zarathushtra/ 
worshipped  the  snake-symbol  of  Earth,  which  after- 
wards was  identified  by  the  Eranian  Mazdayasnians 
with  Angramainyush,  the  Evil  One,  the  Spirit  of 
Lie  and  Death.  This  Proto-Median  Serpent,  like 
his  Dravidian  brother,  had  the  honor  of  being  ad- 
mitted into  the  Aryan  Mythic  Epos.  The  snake- 
king  (originally  snake-god)  Aji-Dahak  ("  the  Biting 
Serpent ")  figures  in  the  mythical  legends  embodied 
in  the  Eranian  Shah-Nameu  ("  Book  of  Kings  ")  as 
the  wicked  Turanian  king  Afrasiab,  whose  shoulders 
were  kissed  by  the  Evil  One,  when  there  sprouted 
from  them  two  living  snakes,  who  had  to  be  fed 
daily  on  human  brains — a  pretty  close  equivalent 
of  the  Dravidian  human  sacrifices, — until  the  in- 
vincible Eranian  hero,  as  in  duty  bound,  delivered 
the  world  from  the  threefold  monster.'^  But  the 
most  remarkable  bequest  left  to  classical  Aryan 
India  by  the  intimacy  between  her  pre-Aryan  in- 
habitants and  their  Chaldean  race-brethren,  is  the 
legend  of  the  Deluge,  in  which  the  part  of'  Hasi- 
sadra  and  the  Biblical  Noah  is  given  to  the  Aryan 
sage  and  progenitor  of  the  present  human  race, 
Manu.      The  story  has  no  roots  in  Aryan    myth, 

'  See  Story  of  Media,  etc.,  pp.  144,  267,  268. 

^  The  Shak-N'atnch  is  the  Eranian  national  epic.  It  was  written, 
in  the  eleventh  century,  by  the  poet  Firdausi,  at  the  suggestion  of 
his  patron,  the  great  Sultan  Mahmud  of  Gazna.  It  purports  to  be 
the  history  of  Persia  from  the  earliest  times  down  to  that  monarch's 
reign,  but  is  really,  at  least  the  first  half  of  it,  a  complete  collection 
of  the  hero-myths  of  the  Eranian  race,  embodying  the  glorious 
memories  of  the  life-long  struggle  between  Eran  and  Turan. 


EARL  Y  HISTOR  Y.     ■  3 1 1 

in  which  it  stands  alone,  unconnected  with  any  of 
its  legends,  being  evidently  torn  out  of  its  own 
native  cycle  of  the  Izdubar  poems.  It  would  form 
too  long  a  digression  in  the  middle  of  a  chapter;  we 
will  therefore  do  it  justice  best  by  reserving  a  sep- 
arate appendix  for  it.' 

20.  There  is  one  fundamental  axiom  which  should 
be  firmly  kept  in  sight  from  the  outset,  as,  by  so 
doing,  much  confusion  and  wrong  theorizing  will  be 
avoided.  It  is  that  a  people  zvho  speaks  a  certain  lan- 
guage does  not  necessarily  belong  to  the  race  zvhich 
originated  that  language.  This  proposition,  when 
applied  to  individuals,  will  appear  self-evident.  But 
in  dealing  with  whole  communities,  national  or 
tribal,  especially  in  more  or  less  remote  antiquity, 
it  has  for  a  time  been  strangely  overlooked.  There 
prevailed  a  general  tendency  to  forget  that  a  com- 
munity, as  well  as  an  individual,  may  acquire  a 
foreign  language  from  a  variety  of  reasons.  It  may 
do  so  from  choice  (retaining  its  own  the  while),  for 
friendly  purposes  of  trade  and  political  intercourse; 
or  from  necessity,  if  not  compulsion,  on  being  reduced 
to  subjection  by  an  alien  conquering  race.  Concilia- 
tion follows  on  conquest ;  intermarriage  completes 
the  work  of  amalgamation ;  mixed  races  are  the 
result  ;  the  language  at  first  imposed  as  a  stamp  of 
bondage  remains  as  a  pledge  of  amity;  frequently,  if 
the  invading  race  is  intellectually  the  higher,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  original,  native  tongue.  But  a 
language  does  not  mean  merely  a  bundle  of  words 
and  names  ;  it  means  a  subtle,  all-pervading  influence, 
1  See  pp.  335/-. 


312  VEDIC  INDIA. 

and  the  race  that  adopts,  no  matter  from  what 
motives,  another  race's  language,  ends  by  absorbing 
also  what  that  language  carries  with  and  in  itself : 
the  spirit,  the  soul  which  that  race  breathed  into 
it,  as  embodied  in  its  religion,  forms  of  worship, 
social  institutions,  popular  poetry,  and  ethics.  These 
things,  when  once  they  have  gained  a  hold,  spread 
and  propagate  by  all  manner  of  channels,  and  thus 
it  may  come  to  pass  that  a  people  will  speak  a 
language,  follow  a  religion,  practise  forms  of  life, 
originally  not  their  own.  It  is  therefore  utterly  un- 
scientific to  say,  for  instance,  "  such  and  such  a 
people  speaks  an  Aryan  language  ;  consequently  it  is 
of  Aryan  stock  "  ;  for  ethnology,  with  its  attendant 
sciences,  physiology  and  craniology,  may  positively 
demonstrate  that  it  is  no  such  thing ;  at  all  events 
our  decision  must  wait  on  their  verdict.  Without 
being  scientific,  the  Aryas  of  India  knew  this  well  : 
it  is  expressly  inculcated  in  their  standard  code,  the 
Laws  of  Manu,  that  "  all  those  tribes  in  this  world  " 
which  do  not  belong  to  the  three  twice-born  castes 
are  Dasyus,  zvhetJier  they  speak  the  language  of  the 
Mlekkhas  (Barbarians)  or  that  of  the  Aryas  (X.,  45). 
The  only  warranted  conclusion  in  such  a  case  would 
be  that  the  said  people  had  at  some  time  been  sub- 
jected to  a  powerful,  transforming  Aryan  influence ; 
as  to  the  people  of  Aryan  race  who  were  the  bearers 
of  that  influence,  they  may,  or  may  not,  have  passed 
away  from  the  land  or  region  to  which  they  left  the 
most  enduring  part  of  themselves — their  spirit. 

21.    This    hypothetical   case  represents    a    reality 
which  confronts  us  all  through  history,  in  all  times 


EARLY  HISTORY.  313 

and  parts  of  the  world.  But  it  is  comparatively  rare 
for  a  morally  victorious  race  to  vanish  from  a  land, 
whose  population  its  influence  affected  so  deeply 
and  so  lastingly,  without  leaving  any  traces  of  its 
physical  presence.  At  this  late  age  of  the  world, 
when  intercourse  and  amalgamation  have  shaken 
most  of  the  barriers  between  race  and  race,  and 
pulled  down  so  many,  mixed  races  are  the  rule,  the 
mixture  running  through  innumerable  grades  and 
shadings  ;  and,  in  proportion  as  one  or  another  stock 
predominates  in  a  given  fraction  of  humanity,  the 
spiritual  characteristics  belonging  to  it  assert  them- 
selves. This  is  precisely  what  we  see  in  modern 
India.  The  whole  of  the  huge  continent  is  permeated 
with  Aryan  influences.  To  the  Aryan  race  it  owes 
its  name,  its  culture  in  the  main,  its  distinctive 
national  language  and  literature.  Yet  what  lack  of 
uniformity  !  Side  by  side  with  the  Sanskrit  dialects 
are  spoken  about  150  non-Aryan  languages  and 
dialects  ;  the  variety  in  physical  types  and  features  is 
as  great,  ranging  from  the  noble  Aryan  to  the  low 
Negroid  ;  the  ofificial  national  religion,  Brahmanism, 
encloses  in  its  fold  several  powerful  sects  which  are 
manifestly  growths  of  widely  different  spiritual  soils; 
and  no  wonder,  when,  of  the  200,000,000  which  make 
the  Indian  Empire  (not  including  the  Feudatory 
Provinces),  the  census  of  1872  showed  only  16,000- 
000  of  Brahmans  and  Rajputs  (corresponding  to 
the  Kshatriyas,  originally  called  Rajanyas), — "  the 
comparatively  pure  offspring  of  the  Aryan  or  Sans- 
krit-speaking Race  "*;  while  11,000,000  represented 

'  W.  "W.  Hunter,  The  Indian  Empire ^  etc. 


314  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  the  great  Mixed  Population,  known  as  the  Hindus, 
which  has  grown  out  of  the  Aryan  and  non-Aryan 
elements,  chiefly  from  the  latter " ;  the  rest  being 
the  recognized  non-Aryan  tribes  or  Aborigines. 

22.  It  will  be  a  surprise  to  many  that  the  Aryan 
population  of  the  Indian  continent  should  be  so  out 
of  all  proportion  small  when  compared  to  the  de- 
scendants and  representatives  of  those  races  which 
the  Aryan  immigrants  found  in  possession.  The 
same  difference  must  have  existed  on  a  still  greater 
scale  in  those  earliest  times — and  would  alone  suffice 
to  stamp  as  irrational  the  theory  of  Aryan  supremacy 
having  been  established  by  sheer  conquest  and  force. 
Of  course  there  was  fighting,  and  raiding,  and  driving 
of  native  tribes  into  mountain  fastnesses,  while  others 
were  reduced  to  a  state  of  bondage.  But  this  would 
account  for  only  a  very  small  portion  of  the  Aryas' 
success  ;  for  the  laws  of  overwhelming  numerical 
odds  can  be  defied  only  within  certain  limits,  even 
by  the  bravest.  But  it  has  ever  been  one  of  our 
race's  chief  and  truest  claims  to  glory,  that  it  has 
asserted,  extended,  and  maintained  its  superiority 
far  more  by  moral  means  than  by  physical  force. 
Three  agencies  were,  beyond  doubt,  mainly  active 
and  successful  in  propagating  Aryan  intellectual  in- 
fluence and,  as  a  consequence,  Aryan  material  rule : 
commercial  intercourse,  foreign  diplomacy  helped 
by  an  innate  spirit  of  adventure,  and  missionary 
work.     Intermarriages,  of  course,  did  the  rest. 

23.  It  has  always  been  a  characteristic  custom 
among  Aryan  nations  for  their  warriors  to  work  off 
their  exuberant  energies  by  going  forth  in  search  of 


EARLY  HISTORY.  315 

adventures  abroad,  frequently  in  the  form  of  robbing 
raids  or  piratical  expeditions,  but  quite  as  often  by 
taking  military  service  with  neighboring,  or  even 
remoter,  states  or  sovereigns,  singly  or  in  bands. 
Opportunities  of  the  kind  must  have  been  plentiful 
with  the  Aryan  youth  of  the  Seven  Rivers,  sur- 
rounded as  they  were  with  numerous  tribes,  with 
whom  war  must  have  been  a  habitual  occupation. 
This  naturally  paved  the  way  for  political  alliances, 
and  there  were  those  at  home  who  were  not  slow  to 
decide  that  such  was  the  surest,  and  in  the  end  quick- 
est way  to  extend  and  establish  Aryan  influence. 
These  were  the  spiritual  leaders  of  the  people,  the 
priestly  class  which  was  in  time  to  develop  and 
crystallize  into  the  Brahman  caste.  In  the  Rig- Veda 
we  find  these  most  influential  persons  belonging  to 
the  families  of  hereditary  poets  and  bards — Rishis — 
whose  names  are  handed  down  as  the  composers  of 
the  sacred  hymns.  Seven  of  the  books  in  the  collec- 
tion are  attributed  each  to  one  of  these  Rishis,  who 
are  shown  by  many  allusions  and  direct  assertions  in 
the  text  to  have  been  attached  to  the  royal  families  of 
different  tribes,  where  they  occupied  the  position  not 
only  oi puroJiitas  or  family  priests  and  national  bards, 
but  evidently  also  that  of  royal  advisers  and  ministers 
• — a  custom  which  meets  us  as  a  fully  developed  and 
sacred  institution  all  through  the  later  Brahmanic 
period.  But  it  turns  out,  on  closer  inspection,  that 
these  royal  houses  and  the  tribes  they  rule,  are  by  no 
means  always  Aryan,  and  it  is  startling,  at  first,  with 
our  still  lingering  prejudices,  to  find  an  Aryan  priest 
glorying  in  the  position  of  bard  and  purohita  to  a 


3l6  VEDfC  INDIA. 

Dasyu — i.  e.  native — king  and  people.  Yet  wehave 
to  get  familiar  with  the  fact,  which  opens  out  a 
whole  vista  of  missionary  work,  conversions,  priestly 
ambition — and  sound  national  policy. 

24.  Every  one  who  has  lived  in  India  knows — and 
the  English  learned  it  to  their  cost  at  the  time  of  the 
great  mutiny — what  almost  unlimited  influence  the 
wandering  home-missionaries  have  over  the  popula- 
tion. When  such  a.  guru  (spiritual  instructor)  makes 
his  rounds,  the  people  of  the  villages  which  he 
honors  with  a  visit  pour  out  to  meet  him  and  carry 
him  to  their  homes  under  demonstrations  of  respect 
almost  amounting  to  worship.  Within  historical, 
even  modern  times,  such  men  have  been  known  to 
rise  to  the  highest  positions  at  the  courts  of  native 
potentates,  as  prime  ministers  or  as  unofficial,  but 
all  the  more  powerful,  private  advisers  of  the  master. 
Such  must  have  been  the  Aryan  missionaries  of  the 
Vedic  times,  who  carried  the  worship  of  Agni  and 
Soma  into  the  lands  of  the  Serpent  together  with 
Aryan  speech  and  customs.  The  process  of  conver- 
sion must  have  been  a  simple  matter  enough.  A 
ceremony  of  initiation,  significantly  named  "  a  second 
birth,"- — a  simple  confession  of  faith — and  the  impure 
brood  of  the  Serpent  was  transformed  into  the 
"  twice-born  "  child  of  the  bright  Devas  and  admitted 
into  the  Aryan  spiritual  community,  the  Aryan  po- 
litical confederacy.  Now  there  is  in  the  Rig-Veda  a 
short  verse  which,  under  the  name  of  Gayatri,  is  to 
this  day  considered  the  most  sacred  of  all  texts,  en- 
dowed with  miraculous  powers,  and  has,  through 
over  a  score  and   a  half  of  centuries,  been  repeated 


28. — RECEPTION  OF  A  GURU   OR   SPIRITUAL  INSTRUCTOR. 


3l8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

thrice  a  day  at  least,  with  fervent  faith,  by  number- 
less millions  of  human  beings.  It  reads  as  follows 
in  the  translation  : 

"  Of  Savitar,  the  heavenly,  that  longed  for  glory  may  we  win,  and 
may  himself  inspire  our  prayers." — (III.,  62,  10.)  ■ 

This  text  at  first  sight  appears  so  insignificant  as 
to  make  the  exceeding  holiness  attached  to  it  some- 
thing of  a  puzzle.  Our  perplexity  however  vanishes 
if  we  assume  it  to  have  been  the  confession  of  faith 
demanded  of  converts — as  this  would  fully  account 
for  its  sacredness,  which  endures  unimpaired  to  this 
day.  We  can  have  no  proof  that  this  mantra  was 
used  for  this  particular  purpose,  but  there  is  nothing 
to  make  it  improbable.  Its  briefness  and  simplicity 
make  it  appropriate ;  it  is  comprehensive  too,  as  the 
sky-and-sun-worship,  a  form  and  development  of 
fire-worship,  might  well  be  taken  as  the  symbol  of 
the  bright  Aryan  nature-religion  in  opposition  to  the 
mystic  and  gloomy  earth-worship  represented  by  its 
weird  emblem,  the  Serpent.  This  supposition  is  still 
further  and  very  greatly  favored  by  the  circum- 
stance that  the  Gayatri  is  found  in  the  collection 
attributed  to  the  Rishi  Vishvamitra.  And  here  we 
come  on  the  thin  end  of  a  wedge  which,  being  inserted 
at  this  early  time,  sprung  a  cleft  which  runs  through 
the  entire  epic  and  religious  life  of  India:  the  schism 
between  the  two  Brahmanic  schools  which  have  their 
names  from  the  two — probably  real — Vedic  Rishis 
Vasishtha  and  Vishvamitra. 

25.  To  keep  strictly  within  the  information  sup- 
plied by   the    Rig-Veda  itself — Vasishtha   was   the 


EARL  Y  HIS  TOR  V.  3 1 9 

bard  of  the  Tritsu,  the  leading  and  purest  Aryan 
tribe,  and  Vishvamitra  was  the  bard  of  the  Bhara- 
TAS,  their  great  enemies  and  one  of  the  most  power- 
ful native  tribes.  He  at  one  time  had  been  with  the 
Tritsu,  and  for  whatever  cause  he  left  them — not 
improbably  personal  revenge — he  played  a  conspicu- 
ous part  in  the  confederacy  which  attempted  to 
check  the  Aryan  advance  and  increasing  power. 
There  is  a  hymn  (53),  in  Book  III.,  that  of  the  Vish- 
vamitra family,  which  evidently  alludes  to  this  very 
thing.  In  the  first  part  of  the  hymn  it  is  said  that 
when  Vishvamitra  conducted  King  Sudas'  sacrifices, 
Indra  was  gracious  to  him  for  the  Rishi's  sake,  and 
a  great  blessing  is  pronounced  on  the  king,  and  his 
war-steed  and  the  expedition  on  which  he  starts. 
Then,  quite  suddenly,  Vishvamitra  is  made  to  declare, 
in  his  own  person,  that  his  prayers  protect  the  tribes 
of  the  Bharatas,  and  the  hymn  ends  with  four  verses 
of  imprecations  against  enemies  who  are  not  named, 
but'  whom  tradition  so  positively  identified  with 
Vasishtha  and  his  family,  that  the  priests  of  this 
house  in  later  times  never  uttered  these  four  verses, 
and  tried  not  to  hear  them  when  spoken  by  other 
Brahmans.  It  is  most  probable  that  the  Vishvami- 
tras  resented  some  distinction  conferred  upon  the 
Vasishthas,  possibly  their  appointment  as  puroJiitas 
to  the  Tritsu  royal  family,  and  went  over  to  their 
most  powerful  enemies,  the  Purus  and  Bharatas. 
The  Tritsu  and  their  allies  were  victorious  in  the 
ensuing  struggle,  known  as  "  the  War  of  the  Ten 
Kings,"  and  both  the  bards  have  left  descriptions  of 
it  and  of  the  final  battle  on  the  banks  of  the  Purushni, 


3^0  VEDIC  INDIA. 

in  some  spirited  hymns,  the  most  undoubtedly  his- 
torical of  the  collection.  At  a  later  period  the  fol- 
lowers of  Vasishtha  and  his  descendants  represent  the 
narrowly  orthodox  Brahmanic  school,  with  its  petty 
punctiliousness  in  the  matter  of  forms,  rites,  obser- 
vances, its  intolerance  of  everything  un-Aryan,  its 
rigid  separatism.  This  school  it  was  which  stood 
guard  through  all  these  ages,  and  up  to  our  day,  the 
champion — and  possibly  originally  the  institutor,  of 
Caste  ;  who  advanced  and  upheld  all  the  exaggerated 
claims  of  the  Brahman  priesthood,  to  divinity,  to  the 
rule  of  the  world,  and  ownership  of  all  it  holds,  to 
supernatural  compelling  powers  over  nature  and  the 
gods  themselves  through  sacrifice  and  ascetic  prac- 
tices, and  the  like.  The  followers  of  Vishvamitra 
and  his  descendants,  on  the  other  hand,  represented 
the  school  of  liberalism  and  progress,  of  conciliation 
and  amalgamation  ;  it  was  probably  through  their 
efforts  chiefly  that  Aryan  speech  and  worship  and,  as 
a  consequence,  Aryan  supremacy,  spread  among  the 
native  princes  and  their  tribes.  But  it  must  also 
have  been  owing  to  this  their  policy  of  conciliation 
that  many  of  the  beliefs  and  practices  of  the  once 
loathed  aborigines  gradually  crept  into  Aryan  wor- 
ship, and  gained  a  footing  there,  paving  the  way  for 
the  mixed  forms  of  Hinduism  in  the  future.  Their 
orthodox  antagonists  blamed  and  despised  them  for 
this  laxity,  wherein  they  saw  a  danger  which  they 
strove  to  avert  by  redoubled  zeal  in  keeping  high 
and  strong  the  bulwark  of  Caste ;  and  while  they 
could  not  deny  the  holiness  and  authority  of  one 
who  ranks  with  their  own  Rishi   in  the   Ricr-Veda 


EARL  V  ms TOR  V.  3^1 

itself,  they  found  a  vent  for  their  hatred  and  spite 
in  the  assertion  that  Vishvamitra  was  not  originally 
a  Brahman  but  a  Kshatriya,  and  had  obtained  the 
highest  rank  only  by  superhuman  feats  of  asceti- 
cism which  compelled  the  gods  to  grant  him  the  con- 
secration he  desired.  The  feud  between  the  two 
bards  and  their  respective  descendants  is  a  favorite 
theme  in  later  Brahmanic  literature,  where  it  is 
invested,  both  in  poetical  and  theological  writings, 
with  the  usual  exuberance  of  fancy  and  extravagance 
of  detail  and  incident.  We  find  nothing  of  the  kind 
in  the  Rig- Veda,  where  the  beginning  of  the  differ- 
ence is  not  narrated  at  all,  and  only  shows  from  the 
context  of  the  so-called  historical  hymns.  Very  sig- 
nificant, in  the  light  of  these,  is  the  line  in  which 
Vishvamitra  praises  his  adopted  tribe,  the  Bhara- 
tas,  calling  them  "  far-sighted  people," — probably 
in  opposition  to  his  former  patrons,  the  orthodox 
and  narrow-minded  Tritsu.  All  this  shows  us  the 
institution  of  the  castes  in  a  novel  and  most  natural, 
convincing  light :  as  a  reaction,  on  the  part  of  the 
strictly  orthodox  worshippers  of  Agni  and  Soma, 
against  the  alarmingly  broad  and  levelling  tendencies 
of  the  missionary  work  done  by  some  enthusiastic 
preachers  who  combined  religious  zeal  with  far-see- 
ing diplomacy.  High  Church  against  Low  Church. 
The  native  converts,  received  at  first  on  equal 
terms,  began  at  a  later  period — probably  that  of  the 
early  Brahmanas — to  be  admitted  only  on  condition 
that  they  should  occupy  a  subordinate  position  — 
whence  the  Shudra  caste.  It  will  be  noticed,  how- 
ever,   that    both    systems — the    orthodox    and    the 


322  VEDIC  INDIA. 

liberal,. help  to  carry  out  what  Mr.  Hewitt  calls  "the 
great  Brahman  conception  of  a  number  of  subor- 
dinate tribes  ruled  by  a  very  small  Aryan  minority." 
26.  The  host  of  proper  names  in  the  Rig-Veda  must 
have  plunged  the  first  who  made  them  a  special  study 
into  a  state  of  chaotic  bewilderment  bordering  on 
desperation.  Where  was  the  clue,  where  the  saving 
thread  in  this  labyrinth  ?  What  names  were  those 
— of  gods,  of  demons,  of  men,  of  nations,  of  places? 
This  first  sorting,  with  due  margin  for  correcting 
mistakes,  was  a  gigantic  task.  And  when  at  last  the 
names  of  nations  and  tribes  were  set  apart  with 
tolerable  certainty,  there  still  remained  the  appar- 
ently hopeless  difficulty  of  locating  them,  geographi- 
cally and  ethnologically.  Everything  that  could 
help  in  the  work  was  brought  together:  every 
indication  supplied  by  internal  evidence,  by  the 
patient  collation  of  passages,  by  a  minute  study  of 
the  great  epics,  by  gleaning  every  crumb  of  informa- 
tion, however  fragmentary,  however  corrupt,  scat- 
tered in  foreign  writings,  whether  of  Greek  or  Arab. 
All  these  rays,  some  of  them  very  pale  and  uncertain, 
gave,  when  concentrated,  a  search-light  strong  enough 
to  dispel  the  thickest  of  the  gloom  that  lay  on  that 
vast  and  ancient  field,  and  afford  revealing  glimpses 
of  most  suggestive  landmarks.  If  we  trace  certain 
names  right  through  the  Rig-Veda,  simply  writing 
down  each  line,  or  verse,  in  which  they  occur,  we 
will  be  astonished  at  the  amount  of  information 
which  will  result  from  this  mechanical  proceeding; 
and  if  we  repeat  it  with  several  names,  the  feeling  of 
confusion  will  soon  wear  away,  and  make  room  for  a 


EARLY  HISTORY,  323 

delightful,  increasing  sense  of  order  and  clearness. 
Whole  leading  groups  stand  out,  and  of  some 
royal  houses  we  obtain  in  this  way  genealogies  or 
dynasties  covering  several  generations — yielding,  by 
the  way,  additional  evidence,  if  such  were  needed,  of 
the  slow  growth  of  the  Rig-Veda  in  its  finished  form. 
Two  of  these  dynasties  run  parallel  from  father  to 
son,  and  are  closely  connected  throughout.  They 
are  the  royal  houses  of  the  Tritsu,  vjhose  purohita 
or  chaplain  was  the  orthodox  Vasishtha,  and  that  of 
the  PURU,  their  friends  and  allies.  The  glory  of 
each  of  these  houses  appears  to  have  culminated  in 
a  tribal  hero  :  the  Tritsu  DivoDASA,  and  KuTSA 
the  Puru,  or  PURUKUTSA.  These  two  peoples,  to- 
gether with  three  others,  the  Yadu,  the  TURVASU, 
and  the  Anu,  are  frequently  mentioned  collectively 
in  the  Rig-Veda  as  "  The  Five  Tribes  "  or  "  Five 
Races." 

27.  The  Tritsu  are  beyond  doubt  the  chief  Aryan 
nation  of  early  Vedic  times — perhaps  the  original 
invaders  of  the  Penjab.  If  peaceful  methods  were 
used,  it  was  not  by  this  tribe  ;  their  conquest  was  all 
by  war,  and  though  they  had  alliances  among  the 
Dasyu  nations,  many  of  the  latter  gradually  turned 
against  them  and  at  last  formed  a  confederacy  with 
the  object  of  stopping  their  too  rapid  advance  east- 
ward, as  they  took  possession  of  one  river  after 
another.  Their  first  great  king,  Divodasa,  was 
engaged  in  a  continuous  warfare  with  some  fierce 
mountain  tribes  of  the  north,  ruled  by  a  chieftain  of 
the  name  of  Shambara,  who  appears  to  have  con- 
structed a  quantity  of  forts  in  defence  of  the  many 


324  VEDIC  INDIA, 

passes  which  lead  from  the  highlands  into  the 
steeper  and  wilder  Himalayan  fastnesses.  These 
forts,  of  course,  were  built  of  wood,  so  that  the  usual 
mode  of  attack  and  destruction  in  these  petty  cam- 
paigns was  by  fire.  This  is  why,  in  the  numerous 
passages  in  which  these  exploits  of  Divodasa  are 
glorified,  both  by  Vasishtha,  the  bard  of  his  family, 
and  others,  Agni  often  shared  with  Indra  the  credit 
of  the  victory.  For  some  reason  these  forts  are 
always  spoken  of  as  being  ninety  or  ninety-nine — 
probably  a  way  of  saying  "  a  great  many."  "  O 
Lightning-bearer,"  the  poet  exclaims  in  one  place, 
"these  are  thy  deeds  that  thou  destroyedst  nine- 
and-ninety  castles  in  one  day,  and  the  hundredst  at 
night." — The  Tritsu  must  have  had  their  hands 
very  full,  for,  while  continually  busy  in  the  north, 
they  were  fighting  a  great  deal  in  the  southeast ; 
sometimes  they  pressed  onwards,  sometimes  only 
held  their  own  against  native  tribes  who  strove  to 
prevent  their  crossing  now  one  river,  now  another. 
On  the  whole  they  were  successful,  and  victories  are 
recorded,  both  of  Divodasa  and  his  son — or  grandson 
— SUDAS,  over  various  nations,  especially  the  Yadu 
and  Turvasu,  twin  tribes  always  named  together, 
who  appear  to  have  lived  south  of  the  Seven  Rivers, 
between  the  Indus  and  the  Yamuna.  Yet  these  two 
tribes  were  mostly  of  Aryan  stock,  and  nearly  con- 
nected with  the  Aryas  of  the  Indus  and  Sarasvati. 
To  make  up  for  this,  the  Purus,  a  powerful,  orig- 
inally Dravidian  race,  who  lived  in  the  West  and 
had  a  standing  feud  with  the  horse-breeding  Gand- 
HARAS  of  the  Kabul  valley,  were  for  a  long  time  the 


EARLY  HISTORY.  %2<, 

Tritsu's  firm  allies.  Indra  and  Agni  are  said  to  pro- 
tect both  and  help  them  in  their  wars  against  their 
common  enemies.  In  one  of  the  Vasishtha  hymns  to 
Agni  we  read  :  "  From  fear  of  thee  the  black  people 
fled  ;  they  dispersed,  leaving  behind  their  goods  and 
chattels,  when  thou,  Agni,  blazing  for  the  Puru,  didst 
destroy  their  forts."  (VII.,  6,  3.)  And  in  another 
hymn  of  the  same  book  (VII.,  19),  Indra  is  praised 
for  giving  the  Tritsu  the  victory  over  the  Yadu- 
Turvasu,  for  helping  Kutsa,  the  Puru  king,  in  his 
battles,  and  giving  his  enemy  into  his  hand.  This 
friendship  must  have  lasted  after  Divodasa's  death, 
for  one  hymn  of  another  book  (I.,  6t,.  7),  mentions 
jointly  the  victories  of  Purukutsa,  as  he  is  often 
named,  and  Sudas,  Divodasa's  successor:  "Thou, 
Indra,  didst  destroy  the  seven  forts,  fighting  for 
Purukutsa,  O  Lord  of  Lightning;  thou  didst  throw 
them  down,  like  straw,  before  Sudas,  and  help  the 
Puru  out  of  their  straits."  True,  some  scholars  give 
a  slightly  different  reading  of  this  passage,  which 
reverses  the  sense,  thus :  ''  Thou  didst  throw  down 
Sudas  like  straw,"  and  make  out  Kutsa  to  have 
gained  a  victory  over,  not  ivith,  Sudas.  Should  this 
reading,  which  has  on  its  side  Roth's  and  Ludwig's 
weighty  authority,  be  confirmed,  it  will  only  go  to 
show  that  the  great  general  war,  known  as  "  the 
War  of  the  Ten  Kings,"  from  the  number  of  the 
tribes  which  formed  the  confederacy  at  whose  head 
Purukutsa  undoubtedly  stood,  was  preceded  by 
private  hostilities  between  the  latter  and  his  former 
allies,  the  Tritsu.  If  so,  it  might  be  that  the  tem- 
porary   advantage    obtained    by    the    Puru    prince 


326  VEDIC  INDIA. 

encouraged  the  other  malcontents  to  declare  them- 
selves and  form  a  confederacy, — some,  like  the 
Yadu-Turvasu,  from  the  hope  of  avenging  former 
injuries,  others  in  self-defence,  to  check  the 
too  rapid  advance  of  that  most  enterprising 
of  Aryan  tribes.  The  philological  point  may  never 
be  positively  settled  one  way  or  the  other  ;  but  the 
doubt,  as  will  be  seen,  does  not  materially  affect  the 
general  course  of  things,  which  is  all  that  really 
matters  to  us,  students  of  history.  There  are  a 
great  many  similar  debatable  cases,  and  it  is  wise 
not  to  make  too  much  of  them — unless  one  is  a 
specialist. 

28.  The  War  of  the  Ten  Kings  is  told  in  the  col- 
lections that  bear  the  names  of  both  hostile  bards — 
the  Vishvamitras  and  the  Vasishthas,  and  the  story 
of  the  campaign  and  the  decisive  battle  can  be  easily 
reconstructed  out  of  the  detached  passages  and 
whole  hymns  which  allude  to  the  subject  or  nar- 
rate the  chief  incidents  of  the  struggle.  The  Va- 
sishtha  hymns  are  usually  addressed  to  Indra,  by 
later  bards,  who  beseech  him  to  help  their  people 
"  as  he  once  helped  Sudas  and  the  Tritsu,"  and  it  is 
expressly  mentioned  in  them,  as  well  as  in  those  of  the 
rival  house,  that  the  name  of  Indra  and  also  of  Va- 
runa  was  invoked  on  both  sides — they  were,  in  fact, 
entreated  to  "  defeat  the  foes,  tvlietJicr  Aryan  or 
Ddsay  This  is' quite  a  common  invocation,  and  oc- 
curs repeatedly  in  several  books,  showing,  on  one 
hand,  that  those  early  conflicts  already  were  in  a 
measure  internecine  ones,  between  rival  Aryan  tribes, 
on   the  other   that    the  Aryan    gods   were   already 


EARLY  HISTORY.  327 

adopted  by  many  native  nations.'  So  the  Anu, 
originally  probably  of  Kolarian  stock,  are  especially 
mentioned  as  worshippers  of  Agni,  and  we  have  seen 
the  help  given  by  Indra  to  the  Puru  repeatedly  men- 
tioned. Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that  ancient 
nations  were  by  no  means  exclusive  in  their  theology, 
and  were  quite  ready,  without  in  the  least  betraying 
their  allegiance  to  their  own  gods,  to  do  honor,  inci- 
dentally, to  a  strange  god  who  had  made  good  his 
claim  to  respect  by  the  success  and  prosperity  with 
which  he  rewarded  his  worshippers.  Now  Indra  had 
become  so  pre-eminently  the  ever  victorious  war-god, 
that  he  could  very  well  be  praised,  and  even  invoked, 
by  warlike  tribes  not  of  Aryan  stock  or  religion. 

29.  The  names  of  both  the  enemies  and  the  allies 
of  the  Tritsu  and  their  king  Sudas  have  been  pre- 
served for  us  by  the  bards  of  the  Rig- Veda.  The 
confederacy,  consisting  of  ten  powerful  tribes,  was 
headed   by  the  Puru  under   their   hero   the   great 

'  "  He  whom  both  battle  lines  call  upon  in  the  fray,  both  adversa- 
ries on  this  side  and  on  that, — he  whom  they  invoke,  standing  on 
chariots, — that,  O  men,  is  Indra,"     (II.,  12,  8.) 

"  .  .  .  The  warriors  who  leagued  together  against  us,  whether 
kindred  or  strange,  break  their  might."  (VI.,  25,  3.) 

"  Thou,  O  Indra,  dost  strike  both  foes,  the  Aryan  and  the  Dasyu." 
(VI.,  33.  3.) 

"  They  (Indra  and  Agni)  strike  the  foes,  both  Aryan  and  Dasa." 
(VI.,  60,  6.) 

"  Whatever  contemners  of  the  gods,  be  they  Dasa,  be  they  Arya, 
O  glorious  Indra,  do  battle  against  us,  give  us  an  easy  victory  over 
them,  thy  foes."     (X.,  38,  3.) 

"  Thou  (Agni)  didst  take  the  goods  of  mount  and  plain,  and  didst 
strike  the  foes,  both  Aryas  and  Dasyus."     (X.,  69,  6.) 

Etc.,  etc. 


328  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Kutsa,  and  by  the  Bharatas  who,  already  converted 
by  Vishvamitra,  were  to  become  so  thoroughly  Aryan- 
ized,  and  to  take  such  a  prominent  position  that,  in 
after  days,  "  the  Land  of  the  Bharatas  "  was  to  be- 
come a  synonym  for  "  Aryan  India."  The  names  of 
several  other  famous  chieftains  are  mentioned  as 
having  perished  in  the  decisive  battle.  Neither 
were  the  Tritsu  unprovided  with  allies,  and  in  the 
array  of  the  latter  we  are  startled  to  find  two  very 
familiar  names — those  of  the  Parthians  and  the  Per- 
sians— Prithu  and  Parsu,  though  there  is  really 
nothing  so  very  wonderful  in  the  fact  that  chips  of 
the  two  chief  Eranian  tribes  should  have,  like  others, 
wandered  south  of  the  Himalaya.  A  people  named 
ViSHANiN,  i.  e.  "  followers  of  Vishnu,"  is  also  men- 
tioned, almost  certainly  Aryan  sun-worshippers, 
showing  that  Vishnuism  as  a  distinctive  worship — 
a  sect — had  its  roots  in  a  remoter  past  than  was  hith- 
erto suspected.'  As  though  to  complete  the  connec- 
tion, we  find  in  the  list  of  the  Tritsu's  allies,  the 
Vishanin  bracketed  with  the  SlllVA,  which  is  thought 
to  be  a  name  of  the  TuGRA,  one  of  the  oldest  abo- 
riginal Dravidian  peoples,  whom  the  Aryas  had 
specially  nicknamed  "  Sons  of  the  Serpent,"  and  who, 
under  the  rehgious  designation  of  Shiva,  were  very 
probably  the  originators  of  the  worship  of  Shiva 
under  the  form  or  with  the  attribute  of  a  snake."'' 

'  Vishnuism  is  probably  originally  connected  with  the  transition 
from  the  oldest  calendar  of  thirteen  lunar  months  to  the  reformed 
solar  year  of  twelve  months,  presided  over  by  the  twelve  Adityas. — 
See  Mr.  Hewitt's  Early  History  of  Northertt  India. 

*  lb.,  ii.,  pp.  232,  233  (y.  Roy.  As.  Sac,  xxi.,  new  series).  In  the 
Russian  epic  cycle  there  is  an  evil  champion  demigod,  the  constant 


EARLY  HISTORY.  329 

That  all  these  peoples  had  even  then  already  become 
much  mixed,  partly  with  Aryan  elements,  is  more 
than  likely.  At  all  events  it  takes  one's  breath  away 
to  find  the  three  component  elements  of  modern 
Hinduism  :  Brahmanism,  Vishnuism,  Shivaism,  ar- 
rayed before  us  in  the  Rig-Veda  in  precisely  the 
same  juxtaposition  :   Tritsu,  Vishanin,  Shiva! 

30.  The  confederacy  had  planned  the  campaign 
well  and  was  sure  of  success.  Nor  does  the  Tritsu 
bard  underrate  the  danger,  but  plainly  states  that 
Sudas  "was  surrounded  "  and  cried  out  for  help  to 
Indra,  who  cut  a  way  for  him  through  the  enemies, 
in  consideration  of  the  prayers  sent  up  by  his  friends, 
the  white-robed  Vasishtha  priests.  The  confede- 
rates' plan  was  simply  to  surprise  the  Tritsu,  whose 
settlement  had  advanced  as  far  as  the  Sarasvati, 
while  they  themselves  were  drawn  up  in  battle  array 
on  the  northern  side  of  the  Purushni  (modern  Ravi).' 
The  two  hosts,  therefore,  were  separated  by  two  in- 
tervening rivers— the  Vipash  (modern  Bias)  and  the 
Shatadru  or  Shutudri  (modern  Sutlej).  These  the 
confederates  intended  to  cross,  as  we  are  very  ex- 
plicitly informed  by  a  hymn  of  the  Vishvamitra 
collection.  As  this  historical  document  is  also  one 
of  the  few  faultless  poetical  gems  in  the  Rig-Veda, 
we  shall  try  to  give  an  idea  of  it,  as  far  as  a  meagre 
prose  version  can  do  so.  It  is  most  finished  in  form, 
and — a    rare    merit    in    these  old  songs — consistent 

enemy  of  the  heroes  or  bogaiyrs,  who  goes  by  the  name  of  "  Tugarin 
the  Serpent."  Our  folk-lorists  have  been  greatly  puzzled  to  account 
for  the  name  and  where  it  came  from  :  might  the  key  be  found  here? 
'  Mr.  Hewitt  draws  attention  to  this  river's  name  as  suggestive  of 
the  Purus'  original  home  having  been  on  its  banks. 


330  VEDIC  INDIA. 

throughout,  without  an  antichmax  or  a  digression. 
The  form  is  that  of  a  dialogue  between  the  Rishi 
and  the  rivers,  arranged  in  couplets  of  two  verses 
each,  the  one  being  spoken  by  the  poet,  while  in  the 
other  the  rivers  reply ;  the  introduction  is  in  the 
narrative  form.  * 

"  I.  Down  from  the  mountains,  in  merry  race,  like  two  mares  let 
loose,  or  two  comely  mother-kine  at  play,  Vipash  and  Shatadru  run 
along,  carrying  their  milk-like  waters. 

"  2.  Spurred  on  by  Indra,  like  swift  charioteers,  ye  hasten  to  the 
mighty  mass  of  waters  ;  with  swelling  waves  ye  beautiful  ones  run 
close  to  one  another. 

"3.  I  went  down  to  the  most  motherly  of  streams,  to  Vipash,  the 
wide,  the  fair, — to  the  two  that,  like  a  pair  of  mother-kine  fondling 
their  calves,  wander  along  to  meet  in  one  broad  bosom. 

"4.  'Swelling  with  sweet  waters,  travelling  along  towards  the 
god-created  bosom,  nought  can  stem  our  swift  current :  what  is  the 
wish  of  the  bard,  that  he  calls  to  us  rivers  ? ' 

"5.  Hark  to  my  devout  song,  and  stay  your  course  for  a  brief  rest, 
ye  holy  ones  ;  to  you  rivers  calls  my  heart's  loud  prayer  ;  with  longing 
I  call  out  to  you — I,  the  son  of  Kushika. 

"6.  '  He  whose  arm  bears  the  lightning,  Indra,  broke  the  way  for 
us,  killing  Vritra,  who  shut  in  the  waters  ;  the  beauteous  Savitar,  the 
god,  guides  us  on  ;  following  his  lead,  we  spread  our  waters  wide.' 

"  7.  This  heroic  deed  be  praised  for  evermore,  that  Indra  did  when 
he  cut  the  Serpent  in  pieces.  With  his  lightning  he  struck  the  rob- 
bers ;  the  waters  sped  away  whither  they  longed  to  go. 

"  8.  *  Forget  never,  O  bard,  this  word  of  thine  ;  let  the  latest  gen- 
erations hearken  to  it ;  give  us  a  loving  word  in  thy  songs,  O  poet,  let 
us  not  be  forgotten  of  men,  and  honor  shall  be  paid  to  thee.' 

"  9.  Hear  then,  sisters,  what  the  poet  says  :  I  came  to  you  from  far 
with  loaded  wagons.  Now  bend  ye  low,  give  me  an  easy  ford  ;  let 
not  your  waves  touch  my  axle-tree,  O  Rivers. 


332  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  lo.  '  We  will  heed  thy  word,  O  Rishi,  that  cam'st  to  us  from  far 
with  loaded  wagons  ;  I  bend  low  before  thee  as  a  willing  slave,  as  to 
her  lord  submits  the  bride.' 

"  II.  But  when  the  Bharatas' host,  animated  by  Indra  and  full  of 
ardor,  has  quickly  forded  thee,  then  let  the  current  shoot  up  again 
with  arrow's  fleetness  ;  this  is  the  boon  I  beg  of  you,  ye  holy  ones. 

"  12.  The  Bharatas,  filled  with  the  ardor  of  battle,  have  crossed  ; 
the  bard  did  win  the  rivers'  favor.  Now  swell,  now  grow  rapidly,  to 
end  the  work,  and  hasten  onwards,  with  well-filled  beds."  (III.,  33.) 

31.  The  bard  in  this  last  verse,  with  truly  poetic 
licence,  describes  as  an  accomplished  fact  that  which 
he  only  wished  to  happen,  but  which  did  not  really 
happen.  For  in  reality,  the  event  was  exactly  re- 
versed :  the  Tritsu  took  the  initiative  and  it  was  they 
who  crossed  the  Vipash  and  Shatadru  (the  fording  of 
which  Indra  made  easy  to  Sudas),  astonishing  the 
enemy  by  appearing  unexpectedly,  in  battle  array,  on 
the  southern  bank  of  the  Purushni.  Then  there  was 
a  veritable  scramble  ;  one  after  another  the  confed- 
erate tribes  with  their  leaders  jumped  into  the  river, 
"  thinking,  fools  that  they  were,  to  cross  as  easily  as 
on  dry  land."  The  horses  and  the  chariots  were  badly 
handled  by  the  current,  and  those  who  did  cross, 
came  out  on  the  other  side  like  stampeding  cattle 
without  a  herdsman.  Many  chiefs  were  drowned ; 
the  slaughter  was  terrible:  over  six  thousand  warriors 
fell  "  by  Indra's  might  " ;  the  booty  "  given  into 
Sudas'  hands  "  was  immense,  and  the  survivors  had 
to  pay  heavy  tribute.  The  Tritsu  victory  was  com- 
plete, and  there  was  nothing  to  hinder  their  further 
advance  eastward  to  the  Yamuna  (Rig- Veda,  VII., 
18).     The  fate  of   the  Puru  hero  Kutsa  is  not  ex- 


EARLY  HISTORY.  333 

pressly  mentioned,  but  there  is  a  curious  incidental 
allusion  which  would  almost  make  us  believe  that  he 
was  taken  prisoner.  In  that  one  verse  Kutsa's  tribu- 
lations are  obscurely  hinted  at,  and  the  birth  of 
Trasadasyu,  son  of  his  daughter  PURUKUTSI, 
seems  to  be  considered  as  a  consolation  or  compensa- 
tion sent  him  by  the  gods. 

32.  Trasadasyu  became  a  very  powerful  sovereign, 
the  first  of  Indian  princes  to  bear  the  highest  royal 
title,  "  king  of  kings  "  {sainraj).  A  solid  peace  must 
have  followed  the  disastrous  battle  on  the  Purushni, 
for  Trasadasyu  invariably  appears  as  the  Aryas'  firm 
friend  and  ally  ;  his  successors,  through  several  gen- 
erations, are  frequently  mentioned,  not  only  in  the 
great  epics,  but  in  the  Rig-Veda  itself.  But  his 
people  gradually  changed  its  name,  and  became 
known  as  the  Kurus,  who  take  such  a  prominent 
position  in  the  country  as  depicted  in  the  great  epics. 
This  change  of  the  name  is  explained,  as  usual,  by  a 
genealogical  fiction  :  Kuru,  we  are  told,  was  a  great- 
grandson  of  Kutsa,  and  was  so  great  a  king  that  his 
entire  people  was  thenceforth  named  after  him.  In 
the  same  manner  the  Tritsu  disappear;  but  we  are 
expressly  told  that  they  continued  to  acquire  lands 
and  the  Yamuna  is — rather  abruptly — mentioned  in 
connection  with  them.  But  if  their-  name  disap- 
pears, that  of  the  Vasishthas  and  their  bigoted  or- 
thodox school  does  not,  and  it  turns  out,  from  this 
and  other  indications,  that  the  land  which  the  Tritsu 
finally  occupied,  became  that  stronghold  of  fanatical 
Brahmanism,  caste,  and  absolute  priestly  rule,  which 
is   designated    in    the   most   perfect   of    Brahmanic 


334 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


codes,  that  of  Manu,  as  the  Brahma-VARTA,  the 
only  country  in  which  it  is  lawful  for  a  really  ortho- 
dox Brahman  to  reside.     This  is  the  text : 

"That  land,  created  by  the  gods,  which  lies  between  the  two 
divine  rivers,  Sarasvati  and  Drishadvati,  the  sages  call  Brahmavarta. 

' '  The  custom  handed  down  in  regular  succession  among  the  castes 
and  the  mixed  races  of  that  country  is  called  the  conduct  of  virtuous 
men, 

"  From  a  Brdhman  born  hi  that  country  let  all  men  on  earth  learn 
their  several  usages." 

This  as  distinguished  from  the  entire  country  be- 
tween the  Himalaya  and  the  Vindhya  and  between 
the  eastern  and  western  oceans,  which  is  called 
Aryavarta,  and  is  good  to  live  in,  but  not  pre- 
eminently holy  as  that  small  chosen  tract.  The 
twice-born  should  strive  not  to  live  outside  of  Arya- 
varta, for  the  rest  of  the  continent  is  the  country  of 
the  Mlekkhas  (barbarians)  where  it  is  lawful  for  the 
Shudra  to  reside,  but  which  the  twice-born  should 
avoid. 


EARLY  HISTORY.  335 

APPENDIX    TO    CHAPTER    VIII. 

THE      STORY      OF     THE      FLOOD      IN      INDIA      (THE 
MATSYA     avatar).' 

I.  The  story  of  the  Flood  exists  in  Hindu  litera- 
ture in  several  versions,  always  as  an  incident  of 
some  more  or  less  bulky  work  or  collection,  except 
one,  which  forms  the  subject  of  a  short  separate 
narrative  or  Purana — the  Matsya  {i.  e.  "  Fish  ")  Pu- 
RANA.  It  is  also  given  in  very  abridged  form  in 
another  of  the  lesser  Puranas,  the  Agni-Purana  ; 
but  the  two  fullest  and  most  elaborate  versions  are 
those  in  the  Bhagavata  Purana,  one  of  the  most 
important  of  these  writings,  consecrated  to  the 
glorification  of  Vishnu,  and  in  the  great  epic  itself, 
the  Mahabharata,  where  it  occurs  among  many 
legends  told  on  various  occasions  by  this  or  that 
learned  Brahman,  for  the  entertainment  or  instruc- 
tion of  this  or  that  royal  hero.  These  versions  have 
been  known  to  Sanskrit  scholars  for  half  a  century 
and  more,  but  being  found  imbedded  in  such  a  late, 
and  in  some  cases  almost  modern  body  of  litera- 
ture, representing  Hinduism  even  more  than  classi- 
cal Brahmanism,  those  who  had  detected  the  foreign 
ring  of  the  story  were  naturally  led  to  attribute  it  to 
late  Semitic  importation,  directly  connecting  it  with 
the  Biblical  account  in  Genesis.  The  surprise  was 
therefore  great  when  a  version  came  to  light  in  one 
of  the  great  Brahmanas,  the  Shatapatha  ("  Brah- 

'  In  connection  with  these  pages  it  is  absohitely  necessary  to  read 
over  carefully  Chapter  VII.  of  the  Siory  of  Chaldea,  more  especially 
the  incident  of  the  Deluge,  pp.  314-317. 


336  VEDIC  INDIA. 

mana  of  A  Hundred  Paths "),  suddenly  removing 
the  legend  into  an  age  closely  bordering  on  the 
Vedic,  in  which  we  find  it  presented,  in  a  monument 
of  distinctly  Vedic  literature,  as  an  ancient  legend 
accounting  for  the  origin  of  the  present  human  race. 
The  point  of  view  was  shifted  at  once  in  a  way 
which  necessitated  entirely  new  adaptations,  and 
some  peculiar  details  in  the  later  versions,  which 
will  be  seen  mutually  to  complete  one  another,  only 
now  won  their  proper  recognition  and  interpretation. 
2.  Professor  Max  Miiller  published  the  first  trans- 
lation of  the  then  newly  discovered  Shatapatha  ver- 
sion.* We  here  give  the  latest  and  most  authorita- 
tive one,  edited  and  indorsed  by  the  same  veteran 
scholar ' : 

"  I.  In  the  morning  they  brought  to  Manu  water  for  washing,  just 
as  now  also  they  are  wont  to  bring  water  for  washing  the  hands. 
When  he  was  washing  himself,  a  fish  came  into  his  hands. 

"  2.  It  spake  to  him  the  words  :  '  Rear  me  ;  I  will  save  thee.' — 
'  Wherefrom  wilt  thou  save  me  ? ' — '  A  flood  will  carry  away  all  these 
creatures  ;  from  that  I  will  save  thee.' — *  How  am  I  to  rear  thee  ?' 

"3.  It  said  :  '  As  long  as  we  are  small,  there  is  great  destruction 
for  us  :  fish  devours  fish.  Thou  wilt  first  keep  me  in  a  jar.  When 
I  outgrow  that,  thou  wilt  dig  a  pit  and  keep  me  in  it.  When  I  out- 
grow that,  thou  wilt  take  me  down  to  the  sea,  for  then  I  shall  be 
beyond  destruction.' 

"4.  It  soon  became  a  large  fish.  Thereupon  it  said:  ' /«  such 
and  such  a  yea}-  that  Jiood  ivill  come.  Thou  shalt  then  attend  to  me 
and  prepare  a  ship,  and  when  the  flood  has  risen  thou  shalt  enter  into 
the  ship  and  I  will  save  thee  from  it.' 

"  5.  After  he  had  reared Jt  in  this  way,  he  took  it  down  to  the  sea. 

'  History  of  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  p.  ^2^  ff.  (1859). 
^  In  the  Shatapatha   Brahmana,   translated   by  Julius    Eggeling ; 
Sacred  Books  of  the  East,  vol.  xii.,  1882. 


i 


EARL  V  HISTOR  Y.  337 

And  in  the  same  year  which  the  fish  had  indicated  to  him,  he  at- 
tended to  his  advice  by  preparing  a  ship  ;  and  when  the  flood  had 
risen,  he  entered  into  the  ship.  The  fish  then  swam  up  to  him,  and 
to  its  horn  he  tied  the  rope  of  the  ship,  and  by  that  means  he  passed 
swiftly  up  to  yonder  northern  mountain  (Himalaya). 

"  6.  It  then  said  :  '  I  have  saved  thee.  Fasten  the  ship  to  a  tree, 
but  let  not  the  water  cut  thee  off  whilst  thou  art  on  the  mountain. 
As  the  water  subsides,  thou  mayest  gradually  descend.'  Accordingly 
he  gradually  descended,  and  hence  that  slope  of  the  northern  moun- 
tain is  called  '  Manu's  descent.'  The  flood  then  swept  away  all  these 
creatures  and  Manu  alone  remained  here. 

"  7.  Being  desirous  of  offspring,  he  engaged  in  worshipping  and  in 
austerities.     .     .     ." 


Manu  offered  much  milk-curds  and  clarified  but- 
ter {ghcc),  and  in  the  course  of  a  year,  lo !  his 
accumulated  prayers  and  sacrifices  took  a  visible 
body  and  stood  before  him  in  the  shape  of  a  beauti- 
ful woman,  the  divine  IdA.  He  lived  with  her  as 
his  wife,  and  they  became  the  progenitors  of  a  new 
race — "this  race  of  Manu,"  as  the  Aryan  Hindus 
call  themselves. 

3.  This  oldest  and  simplest  version  presents  only 
the  most  general  outlines  of  the  familiar  story,  and 
if  it  stood  alone  it  would  not  warrant  any  very  defi- 
nite conclusions.  We  are  not  even  told  who  the 
fish  was,  and  can  only  conjecture  that  it  was  a 
divine  being  or  a  heavenly  messenger.  The  version 
of  the  Mahabharata  comes  next  in  point  of  time,  it 
is  far  more  complete,  and  contains  some  suggestive 
particulars.  To  begin  with,  we  are  not  left  in  doubt 
as  to  the  person  of  the  hero,  who  is  introduced  with 
his  usual  patronymic,  which  shows  him  to  be  the 
brother  of  Yama,  as  known  to  us  from  other  sources. 


338  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  There  was  a  great  Rishi,  Manu,  son  of  Vivasvat  .  .  .  (who, 
through  a  great  many  years,  gave  himself  up  to  the  practice  of  the 
most  fervid  religious  austerities.     .     .     .). 

"  Once  a  fish  came  to  him  on  the  banks  of  the  Chirini,  and  spake  : 
'  Lord,  I  am  a  small  fish  ;  I  dread  the  stronger  ones,  and  from  them 
you  must  save  me.  For  the  strong  fish  devour  the  vi^eaker  ;  this  has 
been  immemorially  ordained  as  our  means  of  subsistence.  Deliver 
me  from  this  flood  of  apprehension,  and  I  will  requite  the  deed.' 

"  Hearing  this,  Manu,  filled  with  compassion,  took  the  fish  in  his 
hand,  and  threw  him  into  a  jar  bright  as  a  moonbeam.  In  it  the 
fish,  being  excellently  well  tended,  grew  ;  for  Manu  treated  him  like 
a  son.  After  a  long  time,  he  became  very  large  and  could  not  be 
contained  in  the  jar.  Then,  seeing  Manu,  he  said  again  :  '  In  order 
that  I  may  thrive,  remove  me  elsewhere.' 

"  Manu  then  took  him  out  of  the  jar,  brought  him  to  a  large  pond, 
and  threw  him  in.  There  he  continued  to  grow  for  very  many  years. 
Although  the  pond  was  two  yojanas  long  and  one  broad,  the  lotus- 
eyed  fish  found  in  it  no  room  to  move  ;  and  again  said  to  Manu : 
'  Take  me  to  Ganga,  the  dear  queen  of  the  ocean-monarch  ;  in  her  I 
shall  dwell.' 

"Manu  accordingly  took  the  fish  and  threw  him  into  the  river 
Ganga.  There  he  waxed  for  some  time,  when  he  again  said  to 
Manu  :  '  From  my  great  bulk  I  cannot  move  in  the  Ganga  ;  be 
gracious  and  remove  me  quickly  to  the  ocean.'  Manu  took  him  out 
of  the  Ganga  and  cast  him  into  the  sea. 

"When  he  had  been  thrown  into  the  ocean,  he  said  to  Manu: 
'  Great  lord,  thou  hast  in  every  way  preserved  me  :  now  hear  from 
me  what  thou  must  do  when  the  time  arrives.  Soon  shall  all  these 
terrestrial  objects,  both  moving  and  fixed,  be  dissolved.  The  time 
for  the ptirijication  of  the  ivorlds  has  now  arrived.  I  therefore  in* 
form  thee  what  is  for  thy  greatest  good. 

"'The  period  dreadful  for  the  universe,  moving  and  fixed,  has 
come.  Make  for  thyself  a  strong  ship,  with  a  cable  attached  ;  e»i- 
bark  in  it  loith  the  seven  Rishi s  and  stow  in  it,  carefully  preserved 
and  assorted,  all  the  seeds  which  have  been  described  of  old  by  Brah- 
mans.  When  embarked  in  the  ship,  look  out  for  me  :  I  shall  come 
recognizable  by  my  horn.  So  shalt  thou  do.  I  greet  thee  and  de- 
part. These  great  waters  cannot  be  crossed  over  without  me. 
Distrust  not  my  word.' — Manu  replied:  'I shall  do  as  thou  hast 
said.' 


EARLY  HISTORY.  33^ 

"  After  taking  mutual  leave,  they  departed  each  on  his  own  way. 
Manu  then,  as  enjoined,  taking  with  him  the  seeds,  floated  on 'the 
billowy  ocean  in  the  beautiful  ship.  He  then  thought  on  the  fish, 
which,  knowing  his  desire,  arrived  with  all  speed,  distinguished  by  a 
horn.  When  Manu  saw  the  horned  leviathan,  lofty  as  a  mountain, 
he  fastened  the  ship's  cable  to  the  horn.  Being  thus  attached,  the 
fish  dragged  the  ship  with  great  rapidity,  transporting  it  across  the 
briny  ocean,  which  seemed  to  dance  with  its  waves  and  thunder  with 
its  waters.  Tossed  by  the  tempests,  the  ship  whirled  like  a  reeling 
and  intoxicated  woman.  Neither  the  earth,  nor  the  quarters  of  the 
world  appeared  ;  there  was  nothing  but  air,  water,  and  sky. 

"  In  the  world  thus  confounded,  the  seven  Rishis,  Manu  and  the 
fish  were  beheld.  So,  for  very  many  years,  the  fish,  unwearied, 
drew  the  ship  over  the  waters,  and  brought  it  at  length  to  the  highest 
peak  of  Himavat.  He  then,  smiling  gently,  said  to  the  Rishis  : 
'  Bind  the  ship  without  delay  to  this  peak.'  They  did  so  accord- 
ingly. And  that  highest  peak  of  Himavat  is  still  known  by  the  name 
of  Naubandhana  ('  the  Binding  of  the  Ship  '). 

"  The  friendly  fish  then  said  to  the  Rishis:  '  I  am  the  Prajapati 
Brahma,  than  whom  nothing  higher  can  be  reached.  In  the  form 
of  a  fish  I  have  delivered  you  from  this  great  danger.  Manu  shall 
create  all  living  beings — gods,  asuras,  men,  with  all  worlds  and  all 
things,  moving  and  fixed.  By  my  favor  and  through  severe  austere 
fervor,  he  shall  attain  perfect  insight  into  his  creative  work  and  shall 
not  become  bewildered.' 

"  Having^ thus  spoken,  the  fish  in  an  instant  disappeared.  Manu, 
desirous  to  call  creatures  into  existence,  performed  a  great  act 
of  austere  fervor,  and  then  began  visibly  to  create  all  living 
things.     ..." 

In  this  version  (not  to  dwell  on  its  amplification 
and  remarkable  literary  perfection),  three  important 
features  are  added,  which  all  greatly  enhance  its  in- 
trinsic connection  with  the  Chaldean  and  Biblical 
original:  ist.  The  Flood  is  said  to  be  sent  because 
the  time  has  arrived  for  the  purification  of  the  world 
— or  for  its  punishment,  as  it  amounts  to  the  same 


340 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


thing  ' ;  2d,  Manu  is  not  saved  alone,  but  is  allowed 
to  take  a  few  human  beings  (not  his  friends  or 
family,  but  the  seven  holy  sages  of  Hindu  legend) 
and  '*  the  seeds  "  ^ ;  3d,  the  mysterious  fish  reveals 
himself  to  Manu  and  his  companions  as  Brahma  the 
One  Supreme  Deity,  and  speaks  to  them  and  bids 
Manu  repeople  the  world";  only,  with  the  bombas- 
tic exaggeration  which  has  grown  on  the  race  since 
the  time  of  the  comparatively  sober  Veda,  he  does 
not  limit  his  command  to  earth  and  the  human  race, 
but  orders  him  to  create,  besides  men,  gods,  and 
asuras,  and  all  the  worlds. 

4.  This  exuberant  imaginative  element  is  still 
more  developed  in  the  version  given  in  the  Matsya 
(or  Fish)  Purana,  one  important  feature  of  which  is 


Chaldean  Deluge  Tablet. 

'  .  .  .  The  God  Ea  spoke  to 
me  his  servant:  "Men  have  re- 
belled against  me,  and  I  will  do 
judgment  against  them  .  .  .  the 
heavens  will  rain  destruction 
.   .   .   the  appointed  time  has  eome. 

'^ .  .  .  I  brought  together  and 
stowed  into  the  ship  .  .  .  the 
seed  of  life  of  every  kind,  my 
family,  my  men  servants  and  my 
women  servants  .  .  .  and  also 
my  nearest  friends.  .  .  . 

^  (Hasisadra  is  not  given  any 
mission  or  task,  but  simply  trans- 
lated with  his  wife  into  immortal 
life.)  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp. 
314-317. 


Genesis  VII.-IX. 

,  .  .  And  God  looked  upon 
the  earth,  and  behold,  it  was  cor- 
rupt. .  .  .  And  God  said  unto 
Noah  ...  I  do  bring  a  flood  of 
water  upon  the  earth,  .  .  .  and 
everything  that  is  in  the  earth 
shall  die.   .   .   . 

.  .  .  Thou  shalt  come  into  the 
ark,  thou,  and  thy  sons,  and  thy 
wife,  and  thy  sons'  wives  with 
thee.  And  of  every  living  thing 
of  all  flesh  .  .  .  shalt  thou  bring 
in  the  ark  ...  to  keep  them 
alive. 

And  God  blessed  Noah  and 
his  sons,  and  said  unto  them.  Be 
fruitful,  and  multiply,  and  re- 
plenish the  earth. 


EA RL  Y  HTS  TOR  Y.  34I 

that  the  divine  preserver  is  revealed  not  as  Brahma, 
but  Vishnu,  a  change  which  could  have  taken  place 
only  after  the  schism  which  divided  Brahmanism 
into  several  sects.  One  of  these  had  adopted  the 
rather  insignificant  solar  god  of  the  Rig-Veda  arid 
invested  him  with  supremacy,  as  the  ever  watchful 
preserver  and  savior  of  all  creation. 

The  Matsya  Purana  introduces  Manu  as  "a  heroic 
king,"  the  patient  son  of  the  Sun,  who  had  attained 
so  high  a  degree  of  holiness  that  he  abdicated  in 
favor  of  his  son  (name  not  given),  in  order  to  de- 
vote himself  wholly  to  ascetic  practices,  which  he 
kept  up  with  intense  fervor  during  a  million  years  (!) 
"  in  a  certain  region  of  Malaya  "  (Malabar).  Once, 
as  Manu  was  offering  an  oblation  to  the  Pitris  in 
his  hermitage,  a  small  fish  fell  on  his  hands  along 
with  some  water.  Then  follows  the  incident  we  are 
already  familiar  with  :  the  fish  is  successively  trans- 
ferred into  a  jar,  into  a  large  pitcher,  into  a  well, 
into  a  lake,  into  the  Ganges,  and  lastly  is  thrown 
into  the  ocean. 

"  When  he  filled  the  entire  ocean,  Manu  said,  in  terror  :  '  Thou 
art  some  god,  or  thou  art  Vasudeva.  '  How  can  any  one  else  be  like 
this?  Reverence  be  to  thee,  lord  of  the  world.'  Thus  addressed, 
the  divine  Janardana,  ^  in  the  form  of  a  fish,  replied  :  '  Thou  hast 
well  spoken  and  hast  rightly  known  me.  In  a  short  time  the  earth, 
with  its  mountains,  groves,  and  forests,  shall  be  submerged  in  the 
waters.  This  ship  has  been  constructed  by  the  company  of  all  the 
gods  for  the  preservation  of  the  vast  host  of  living  creatures.  Em- 
barking in  it  all  living  creatures,  both  those  engendered  from  moist- 
ure and  from  eggs,  as  well  as  the  viviparous,  and  plants,  preserve 
them  from  calamity.  When,  driven  by  the  blasts  at  the  end  of  the 
yuga,  the  ship  is  swept  along,  thou  shalt  bind  it  to  this  horn  of  mine. 

'  Two  of  Vishnu's  "  thousand  names." 


342  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Then,  at  the  close  of  the  dissolution,  thou  shalt  be  the  Prajapati 
(' lord  of  creatures,' in  this  case  'creator')  of  this  world,  fixed  and 
moving." 

By  "  all  living  things  "  are  certainly  meant  speci- 
mens of  each  kind,  as  no  ship  could  have  been 
imagined  large  enough  to  contain  all  individual 
living  things  existing,  just  as  "  plants  "  undoubtedly 
also  signifies  specimens,  or  rather  the  seeds  of  plants. 
As  for  human  beings,  only  one  holy  Rishi  is  named 
by  Vishnu  as  Manu's  companion.  On  being  ques- 
tioned more  closely,  the  god  explains  that  the 
great  deluge  will  be  preceded  by  a  universal  con- 
flagration which,  following  on  a  hundred  years  of 
drought  and  famine,  shall  consume  the  world  so  the 
earth  shall  become  as  ashes  and  the  aether  itself 
shall  be  scorched  with  heat.  Even  the  gods  and 
the  planets  shall  be  destroyed.  Of  the  former  only 
Brahma  is  to  be  preserved,  of  the  latter  the  sun  and 
moon.  The  Vedas  also  are  to  be  saved  in  the  ship. 
An  important  point  on  which  the  story  of  the 
Matsya  Purana  differs  from  the  Chaldean  original  is 
that  the  great  cataclysm  is  not  sent  in  punishment, 
but  occurs  as  the  ending  of  one  ynga  or  age  of  the 
world, ushering  in  the  beginning  of  another,  every 
such  change  of  period,  in  the  Brahmanic  belief,  being 
marked  by  the  destruction  and  resurrection  of  the 
universe.     The  narrative  ends  rather  abruptly  : 

"  When  the  time  announced  by  Vasudeva  had  arrived,  the  deluge 
took  place  in  that  very  manner.  Then  the  god  appeared  in  the  shape 
of  a  horned  fish  ;  the  serpent  Ananta'  came  to  Manu  in  the  shape 
of  a  rope.  .  .  .  He  then  attached  the  ship  to  the  fish's  horn  by 
the  serpent  rope,  as  he  stood  upon  the  ship.     .     .     ." 

5.  This  same  absence  of  moral  point  distinguishes 

'  Ananta — "  the  Endless  "  ;  the  symbol  of  eternity. 


*  EARLY  HISTORY.  343 

the  elaborate  and  dramatic  relation  in  the  Bhagavata 
Purana.'  There  also  occurs  at  the  end  of  one  of 
the  great  ages  "  an  occasional  dissolution  of  the 
universe,"  during  which  the  world  is  submerged  in 
the  ocean.  But  another  and,  if  possible,  greater 
disaster  befalls  gods  and  men  :  the  Vedas  are  stolen 
and  carried  away  by  "  the  strong  Hayagriva,"  a 
demon  of  the  race  of  the  giant  Daityas,  who  are 
forever  warring  against  the  gods  and  marring  their 
good  works,  and  it  is  on  discovering  this  deed  that 
Vishnu  takes  the  form  of  a  fish.  The  human  hero 
of  the  deluge-incident  is  not  Manu,  but  "  a  certain 
great  royal  Rishi,"  called  Satyavrata,  the  righteous 
King  of  Dravida,  a  devoted  worshipper  of  Vishnu, 
given  to  the  usual  austere  practices,  and  who,  in  the 
then  following  new  era,  is  born  again  as  Manu,  son 
of  Vivasvat. 

' '  Once,  as  in  the  river  Kritamala  fa  river  of  the  country  of  Dravida, 
or  Malabar),  he  was  offering  the  oblation  of  water  to  the  Pitris,  a 
fish  came  with  the  water  in  the  hollow  of  his  hands." 

Here  follows  the  request  for  protection,  the 
transfer  of  the  growing  fish  from  one  receptacle  to 
another,  and  the  recognition  of  him  by  Manu  as 
the  disguised  god  Vishnu.  To  the  enquiry  why  he 
had  assumed  this  disguise,  the  god  replies : 

"  On  the  seventh  day  after  this  the  three  worlds  shall  sink  beneath 
the  ocean  of  the  dissolution.''     When  the  universe  is  dissolved  in  that 

'  Bhagavata — "the  Blessed  One"  ;  one  of  the  most  sacred  names 
of  Vishnu.  This  Purana  is  specially  devoted  to  the  glorification  of 
the  god  and  his  various  incarnations  or  Avatars. 

^  Compare  Genesis  vii.,  4  :  "  lor  yet  seven  days,  and  I  will  cause 
it  to  rain  upon  the  earth  .  .  ,  and  every  living  substance  that  I  have 
made  will  I  destroy.  .  .  .  lo.  And  it  came  to  pass  after  seven  days 
that  the  zvaters  of  the  flood  were  upon  the  earth.  .  .  ." 


344  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ocean,  a  large  ship,  sent  by  me,  shall  come  to  thee.  Taking  with 
thee  the  plants  and  various  seeds,  surrounded  by  the  seven  Rishis, 
and  attended  by  all  existences,  thou  shalt  embark  on  the  great  ship 
and  shalt,  without  alarm,  move  over  the  dark  ocean.  When  the  ship 
shall  be  vehemently  shaken  by  the  tempestuous  wind,  fasten  it  by  the 
great  serpent  to  my  horn,  for  I  shall  be  near." 

Everything  happens  as  predicted,  and  when  "  the 
dissolution  "  is  over,  Vishnu  slays  Hayagriva  and 
recovers  the  Veda,  while  "  King  Satyavrata,  master 
of  all  knowledge,  sacred  and  profane,  became,  by 
favor  of  Vishnu,  the  son  of  Vivasvat,  the  Manu  of 
this  era." 

This  is  the  so-called  Matsya-AvatAr,  or  Fish- 
Incarnation  of  Vishnu — one  of  ten  disguises  assumed 
on  different  critical  occasions  by  the  Preserver,  to 
save  the  world  from  some  great  danger,  and  one  of 
which  is  yet  to  come,  at  the  end  of  the  present  jv/^rt-, 
or  era.  The  Agni-Purana's  story,  though  somewhat 
more  concisely  told,  is  so  exactly  the  same,  with  no 
detail  added  or  altered,  as  not  to  require  quotation. 

6.  The  great  French  Sanskritist,  Eugene  Burnouf, 
who  edited  and  translated  the  Bhagavata-Purana, 
was  familiar  with  all  these  versions,  excepting  only 
the  oldest,  that  of  the  Shatapatha-Brahmana,  which 
was  not  known  in  his  time  as  yet,  and  he  is  very 
positive  about  the  kernel  of  the  story  having  been 
imported  from  Babylon.  His  only  mistake  lies  in 
assigning  this  importation  to  late  historical  times, 
while  there  is  so  much,  both  in  the  subject-matter 
and  in  sundry  particulars,  that  points  to  an  infinitely 
earlier  intercourse,  in  pre-Aryan  times,  between  the 
kindred  people  of  Dravidian  India  and  archaic  or 


THE  M ATS Y A- AVATAR,  OR  FIRST    INCARNA  1  ION  OF  VISHNU  IN    THE  FORM 
OF  A  FISH  TO  RECOVER  THE  SACRED  BOOKS  LOST  DURING  THE  DELUGE. 


345 


346  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Chaldean  Babylon.  The  identity  between  Manu's 
divine  preserver  and  Ea,  the  preserver  of  Hasisadra. 
is  more  than  accidentally  indicated  by  the  fish-dis- 
guise of  the  former,  which  is  also  the  symbolic  form 
of  the  latter,  as  abundantly  shown  by  the  monu- 
ments,and  even  appended  to  the  god's  name  in  one 
of  his  most  momentous  incarnations,  that  of  Ea-Han 
(Cannes),  the  Fish-god,  the  civilizer  of  Chaldea.' 
Nor  are  such  details  to  be  overlooked  as  that  the 
Manu  of  the  Indian  books,  whose  righteousness  and 
piety  make  him  so  exact  a  counterpart  of  the 
patriarchs  Hasisadra  and  Noah,  is  said  to  be  a  king 
of  Dravida,  and  is  shown  performing  his  devotions 
on  the  banks  of  a  river  of  the  land  of  Malabar,  for 
they  conclusively  point  to  the  way  by  which  the 
most  notable  legend  of  the  old  poem  of  Erech 
travelled,  into  India  long  before  the  future  Aryan 
lords  of  the  country  were  heard  of.  That  it  should 
have  been  part  of  the  large  mass  of  native  lore  in- 
corporated centuries  later  in  the  religious  literature 
of  the  then  ruling  race,  was  but  natural — it  certainly 
deserves  the  honor. 

7.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  point  out  the  identity 
of  the  final  incident — the  stopping  of  the  ship  on  a 
high  mountain  top  {"  Mountain  of  the  land  of  Nizir," 
Mount  Ararat,  Himavat),  followed  by  the  dialogue 
between  the  preserved  patriarch  and  his  divine  pre- 
server, the  sacrifices  he  offers,  and  the  mission  given 
him  of  repeopling  the  earth.  But  it  may  be  not  un- 
interesting to  recall  a  bit  of  modern  folk-lore,  familiar 
to  us  from  infancy,  yet  which  it  might  not  occur  to 


*  See  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp,  84,  85. 


THE   GOD   EA. 


34B 


VEDIC  INDIA, 


one  person  in  a  hundred  to  remember  in  connection 
with  the  venerable  old  legend,  of  which,  however,  it 
probably  is  an  infinitesimal  crumb  or  chip :  the 
North-German  tale  of  the  Fisherman  and  the  Little 
Fish,  so  charmingly  told  in  dialect — as  heard  from 
the  people — by  the  great  Grimm.  The  beginning,, 
at  least,  is  identical  with  that  of  the  Manu  legend. 
The  fisherman  catches  a  small  fish,  who  begs  for 
life  and  freedom,  promising  to  requite  the  merci- 
ful deed,  whereupon  the  compassionate  fisherman 
throws  him  back  into  his  native  sea.  The  sequel, 
of  course,  is  entirely  different :  it  is  a  story  of  human 
greed  and  ambition,  growing  with  the  indulgence, 
and  finally  punished ;  but  the  divine  character  of 
the  Fish  is  maintained  throughout  and  most  vividly, 
even  majestically,  brought  forth.  How  many  of  our 
favorite  and  most  familiar  stories,  the  humble  com- 
forters of  cottage  and  nursery,  will  be  found  to  have 
wandered  down  to  us  by  such  devious  and  long- 
obliterated  roads ! 


CHAPTER   IX. 

THE    RIG-VEDA  :    EARLY    CULTURE. 

1.  No  one  who  has  read  at  all  attentively  the 
many  Rig-Veda  hymns  and  passages  quoted  in  the 
preceding  chapters  but  will  have  formed  a  more  or 
less  distinct  picture  of  the  civilization  and  culture  of 
those  early  times,  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  at- 
tainments of  those  who  could  think  and  sing  thus. 
Out  of  things  said  or  implied,  mentioned  directly  or 
in  the  form  of  similes,  the  picture,  stroke  by  stroke, 
must  have  grown  into  a  goodly  general  sketch,  con- 
juring up  before  us  much  the  same  phases  of  exist- 
ence as  now  go  to  make  up  human  life  :  same  in 
substance,  different  in  garb  ;  same  in  kind,  different 
in  degree.  Princes  and  warriors  and  priests, — battles 
and  rural  peace, — things  of  the  farm,  the  field,  and 
the  forest,  and  the  various  crafts  of  men, — all  con- 
tribute their  quota  to  that  sketch.  We  must  now 
attempt  to  fill  it  in  with  more  life-like  details,  more 
finished  lights  and  shades — still  from  the  same  ex- 
haustless  mine,  the  Aryan  book  of  books — the  Rig- 
Veda. 

2.  Philosophers  of  a  gloomy  turn  have  often  said 
that  the  most  important  act  of  life  is  death,  as  it  is 

349 


350  VEDIC  INDIA. 

what  we  came  into  the  world  for.  Certain  it  is  that 
one  of  the  first  things  we  want  to  know  about  a  race 
or  nation  is — what  views  it  held  upon  that  ever  ab- 
sorbing, because  ever  mysterious,  subject,  and  that 
our  judgment  of  that  race  or  nation  greatly  depends 
on  what  we  learn  of  those  views  and  of  the  honors 
it  paid  to  its  dead,  its  treatment  of  their  remains  and 
the  ceremonies  observed  in  connection  therewith. 
This  being  the  case,  we  shall  not  have  to  be  ashamed 
of  our  early  Aryan  ancestors.  For  not  many  funeral 
rituals  can  vie  in  beauty  and  significance  with  that 
which  we  can  reconstruct  from  their  sacred  books. 
The  tenth  book  of  the  Rig-Veda  contains  several 
hymns  which  could  have  served  no  other  purpose, 
and  though  it  is  avowedly  a  late  book,  the  ground 
matter  of  such,  parts  as  this  must  be  of  necessity 
very  ancient,  for  the  conceptions  about  death  and 
future  life  are  always  among  a  race's  oldest.  From 
the  merest  perusal  of  the  so-called  funeral  hymns, 
we  see  that  the  Aryas  of  the  Sapta  Sindhavah  (and 
of  course  their  later  descendants),  though  they  had  a 
wholesome  love  of  life  and  earnestly  prayed  that 
their  dear  ones  and  themselves  might  be  spared  to 
the  full  natural  span  of  ''  a  hundred  winters,"  yet 
had  no  morbid  terror  of  death,  and,  while  keeping 
the  departed  in  honor  and  loving  remembrance, 
certainly  did  not  mourn  as  those  without  hope. 
Their  hope  was  that  those  who  had  gone  before 
would  lead  a  happy  and  glorified  existence  with  the 
ancient  Fathers  of  the  race  and  their  own  ancestors 
down  to  the  immediately  preceding  generation,  hap- 
pily waiting  to  be  joined  by  their  own  descendants, 


EARLY  CULTURE.  35  I 

*'  feasting  with  the  gods,"  in  the  realm  of  good  King 
Yama.  Thither  their  spirits  were  conveyed  on  the 
fiery  pinions  of  the  Messenger  Agni,  whose  consum- 
ing touch  had  power  only  over  the  grosser,  earth- 
born  parts.  This  is  the  later  form  of  funeral,  which 
has  endured  among  Brahmanic  Hindus  to  this  day, 
and  the  texts  which  accompany  it  we  have  no 
trouble  in  distinguishing  from  others,  that  could 
have  fitted  only  a  rite  of  burial,  not  of  cremation. 
These  are  contained  in  the  famous  hymn  X.,  i8,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  of  its  kind  in  any  time  or 
country.  It  is  evident  that  burial  was  the  earlier 
form.  The  words  are  so  suggestive  of  the  acts  per- 
formed that  it  is  easy  to  imagine,  from  them  alone, 
the  sacred  action  as  it  proceeds.  The  dead  is  laid 
on  the  ground,  on  a  consecrated  spot.  His  bow  is 
in  his  hand ;  his  widow  sits  by  him,  near  the  head. 
Relatives  and  friends  stand  in  a  wide  circle.  The 
officiating  priest  places  a  stone  at  some  distance 
from  the  body,  within  the  circle  ;  it  is  the  dividing 
bourne,  beyond  which  the  living  may  not  pass,  and 
which  Mrityu,  Death,  is  invited  to  respect.  As  he 
does  this  the  priest  speaks  : 

"  I.  Depart,  O  Death,  go  thy  way — the  path  which  is  thine  own, 
far  removed  from  that  of  the  gods.  To  thee  I  speak,  that  hast  eyes, 
hast  ears  :  harm  not  our  children,  not  our  men." 

Then  turning  to  the  assembled  mourners : 

"  2.  Ye  who  came  hither  in  Death's  footsteps,  yourselves  possessed 
of  life,  increasing  in  wealth  of  treasure  and  of  progeny,  be  ye  in  spirit 
pure  and  holy  ! — 3.  Divided  are  the  living  from  the  dead.  Propitious 
was  our  sacrifice  this  day,  and  we  shall  hence  depart  to  dance  and  to 


352  VEDIC  INDIA. 

be  merry,  for  still  is  life  our  own. — 4.  This  bourne  I  set,  that  of  the 
living  none  may  haste  to  yonder  goal ;  theirs  be  the  full-prest  measure 
of  a  hundred  autumns,  and  may  this  rock  keep  Death  away  from 
them. — 5.  As  days  on  days  still  follow  in  succession,  and  season 
closely  follows  season,  nor  comes  the  later  before  the  earlier,  so  shape 
their  lives,  Creator. — 6.  Fulfd  your  term  of  years,  and  live  to  a  ripe 
old  age,  as  many  as  are  here,  running  your  race  in  turn,  and  may 
Tvashtar,  the  skilful  Maker,  give  you  length  of  days." 

Only  after  this  blessing  on  the  living  has  been  pro- 
nounced, do  the  rites  really  begin.  The  women 
enter  the  consecrated  precinct  and  pour  oils  and 
butter  on  the  corpse,  to  the  following  text. 

"  7.  These  women  here,  not  widows,  wives  of  noble  husbands,  and 
mothers,  let  them  first  approach  with  unguents  and  with  clarified 
butter  ;  tearless,  not  sorrowing,  festally  attired,  let  them  go  up  to  the 
dwelling  (of  the  dead)." 

Here  the  brother  of  the  deceased,  as  his  represen- 
tative, or,  in  default  of  a  brother,  an  adopted  son,  a 
pupil,  or  an  old  servant,  takes  the  widow  by  the  hand, 
saying : 

"8.  Arise,  O  woman,  to  the  world  of  life.  His  breath  is  gone,  by 
whom  thou  best, — who  took  thy  hand  once  and  espoused  thee  ;  thy 
wedlock  with  him  now  is  ended."  ' 

Then  the  same  person  takes  the  bow  out  of  the 
lifeless  hand,  with  the  words  : 

'  It  is  these  two  verses — 7  and  8 — which  have  acquired  such  great 
celebrity  and  importance,  as  affording  conclusive  proof  that  the  Vedas 
do  not  yield  any  precedent  and  authority  for  widow-burning,  but 
quite  and  expressly  the  contrary.  The  sense  of  verse  7  has  been  per- 
verted by  the  change  of  Hvo  letters  in  one  ivord,  and  some  slighter  dis- 
crepancies in  the  interpretation  of  another  word.  But  those  two  letters 
really  have  to  answer  for  the  horrors  of  the  suttee. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  353 

"  9.  His  bow  I  take  from  the  hand  of  the  dead,  that  it  may  be  to 
us  for  help,  and  strength,  and  fame.  Stay  thou  yonder  ;  we  here,  as 
doughty  men,  will,  in  battle,  smite  the  foe." 

Now  the  actual  interment  begins  ;  the  body  is  laid 
in  the  ground,  the  earth  is  shovelled  over  it,  and  a 
mound  erected,  the  "  house  of  death."  As  the  dif- 
ferent acts  are  performed,  the  priest  speaks  the 
accompanying  words  : 

10.  Hie  thee  to  Earth,  the  Mother  ;  to  the  wide-spread,  blessed 
Earth  ;  to  the  pious  man  she  is  a  maiden  soft  as  wool  ;  may  she 
guard  thee  from  evil. — 11.  Open  wide,  O  Earth,  oppress  him  not. 
Be  gracious  unto  him  ;  shelter  him  kindly,  cover  him.  Earth,  even  as 
a  mother  covers  her  infant  with  her  garment. — 12.  Now  let  the 
house  of  clay  stand  firm  and  steadfast,  borne  on  a  thousand  pillars  ; 
may  it  ever  be  sprinkled  with  clarified  butter,  and  be  a  shelter  unto 
him  for  aye. — 13.  I  have  heaped  up  the  earth  around  thee,  and  may 
this  clod  not  hurt  thee  as  I  place  it  over  thee.  May  the  Fathers 
guard  this  house,  and  Yama  prepare  thee  a  dwelling  in  the  world 
beyond." 

3.  The  stern  and  sober  spirit  of  this  valediction, 
so  healthily  .remote  from  idle  sentiment  and  lament, 
yet  not  loveless  withal,  and  breathing  a  simple  faith, 
unmixed  as  yet  with  speculation,  would  alone  point 
to  the  extreme  antiquity  of  the  rite  it  accompanies. 
When  cremation  was  introduced,  it  became  neces- 
sary to  modify  the  ritual  and  adapt  it  to  new  texts. 
These  are  all  contained  in  Book  X.,  and  are  so  sug- 
gestive as  to  require  no  commentary.  Yet  the  hymn 
X.,  18,  was  too  old  and  sacred  ever  to  be  discarded ; 
it  was  only  broken  up  into  parts,  some  being  recited 
during — or  before — the  cremation,  and  the  others 
from  verse  10  on,  being  reserved  for  the  ceremony 

83 


354 


VEDIC  INDIA. 


of  collecting  and  interring  the  bones.  The  follow- 
ing is  this  later  ritual  as  it  stands  in  the  Domestic 
Laws  (Grihya-Sutras)    of  Ashvalayana.     This   code 


\3 

31  32  33  34  36 

32. — SACRIFICIAL  IMPLEMENTS  :   PANS,  DISHES,  SPOONS,  BOWLS,  CHOP- 
PER, POKER  (in  the  SHAPE  OF  A  HAND),  KNIFE,  SCRAPER,  ETC. 


being  a  portion  of  the  Vedic  literature,  and  the 
funeral  ritual  it  prescribes  so  exactly  adapted  to  the 
texts  in  the  Rig-Veda,  we  can  hardly  doubt  its  hav- 


EARLY  CULTURE. 


355 


ing  been  in  use  already  among  the  late  Vedic  Aryas, 
at  all  events  when  they  had  reached  the  valleys  of 
the  Ganga  and  Yamuna,  where  the  transition  from 
purely  Vedic  to  Brahmanic  culture  must  have  been 
finally  elaborated. 


w- 

7 

^ 

foiol 

g 

m 

\^^ 

i3  -i^ 


33= — MORE  DISHES  :  BOWLS,  SPOONS,  LADLE  FOR  THE  GHEE  (mELTED 
butter),  sacrificial  grass,  kindling  WOOD,  BURNING  WOOD,  ETC. 


4.  After  a  spot,  at  a  distance  from  dwellings,  has 
been  selected,  in  accordance  with  certain  strictly 
prescribed  requirements,  the  relatives  of  the  dead 
man  carry  thither  his  sacred  fires  and  the  sacrificial 
implements  he  used  in  life,  leading  an  animal — usu- 


356  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ally  a  black  goat.  When  the  procession  arrives  at 
the  chosen  spot,  the  priests  walk  round  it  thrice 
from  right  to  left,  sprinkling  it  with  holy  water  and 
repeating  the  verse  which  drives  away  evil  spirits : 

' '  Go  hence  ;  withdraw  ;  depart  from  here.  The  Pitris  (Fathers) 
have  already  prepared  for  him  a  place  of  bliss.  Yama  holds  ready 
for  him  an  abode  of  rest,  where  blessings  flow  as  rivers  night  and 
day."     (X.,  14,  9.) 

The  three  fires  are  then  disposed  and  fuel  is  piled 
up  between  them.  A  black  antelope's  skin  is  spread 
out  upon  the  pyre  and  strewn  with  sacrificial  grass 
{kusJid).  Upon  this  the  body  is  laid  out  and  the 
widow  takes  her  seat  by  the  head.  The  rite  begins 
with  her  being  helped  down  from  the  pyre  (with 
verse  8  of  X.,  18),  and  with  the  taking  of  the  bow 
(with  verse  9  of  the  same).  A  strange  ceremony 
now  follows  ;  the  sacrificial  implements — which,  un- 
like the  bow,  are  the  dead  man's  inalienable  prop- 
erty, almost  a  part  of  himself,  that  cannot  be  taken 
from  him  even  in  death — are  disposed  on  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  his  body  in  a  strictly  prescribed  order ; 
such  an  implement  on  his  chest,  such  another  on  his 
head,  some  in  his  hands,  others  on  his  face,  his  sides, 
his  thighs,  etc.,  until  none  are  left,  when  those  that 
are  hollow  (ladles,  dishes,  spoons,  etc.),  are  filled 
with  melted  butter.  The  goat,  meanwhile,  has  been 
slain  and  flayed,  and  is  stretched  on  the  body,  so  as 
to  fit  it  exactly,  limb  for  limb,  as  a  protection  from 
the  flames  ;  the  whole  is  then  covered  with  the  hide. 
One  of  the  texts  recited  in  the  course  of  this  tedious 
operation  is  verse  10  of  X.,  14: 


EARLY  CULTURE.  357 

"  Go  thy  straight  way,  past  the  two  dogs,  the  sons  of  Sarama,  the 
spotted  and  four-eyed  ;  go  where  the  Fathers,  lavish  of  gifts,  live  in 
joy  with  Yama." 

After  several  oblations  have  been  offered  on  the 
body  itself,  the  priest  gives  the  word  :  "  Light  the 
fires  together !  "  Omens  are  drawn  for  the  future 
state  of  the  deceased  from  the  greater  or  lesser 
rapidity  with  which  the  fires  reach  the  pyre  and 
the  body ;  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  indifference  which 
fire  reaches  it  first.  If  all  three  touch  the  body  at 
the  same  time,  this  is  said  to  portend  the  highest 
luck.  While  the  process  of  cremation  is  actually 
going  on,  the  priest  recites  numerous  hymns,  or 
parts  of  hymns — the  appropriate  verses  only,  most  of 
them  very  beautiful.  The  following  (X.,  14)  is  one 
of  the  finest : 

"  I.  Him  who  crossed  the  great  naoiintains  and  spied  out  the  road 
for  many.  King  Yama  Vaivasvata,  the  gatherer  of  men,  honor  with 
an  oblation.  Yama  was  the  first  who  found  the  way  to  that  home 
which  cannot  be  taken  from  us.  Those  who  are  now  born  go  by 
their  own  paths  to  the  place  whither  our  ancient  fathers  have  de- 
parted. ..."  {^The  deceased  is  addressed)  :  "  Go  forth,  follow  the 
ancient  paths  on  which  our  Fathers  went.  The  two  kings  shalt  thou 
behold,  Yaruna  and  Yama,  where  they  revel  in  bliss.  There  join  Yama 
and  the  Fathers,  where  every  wish  is  granted  in  the  highest  heaven  ; 
free  from  blemishes  enter  thy  home  there,  with  a  new  and  shining 
body  clothing  thyself.  .  .  .  i^To  Yama)  :  Let  the  two  dogs,  thy 
watchers,  the  four-eyed,  the  guardians  of  the  road,  protect  this  man  ; 
make  him  prosperous,  deliver  him  from  suffering  and  disease.  Yama's 
two  messengers,  brown,  broad  of  nostril,  and  insatiable,  wander  about 
among  men,  taking  away  their  lives  :  may  they  long  let  us  behold  the 
sun,  and  give  this  man  renewed  and  happy  life." 

Agni  is  then  prayed  to  deal  gently  with  his  charge 
(X.,  16)  : 


358  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  Scorch  him  not,  consume  him  not,  O  Agni  ;  rend  not  his  skin 
or  his  limbs.  When  thou  hast  matured  him,  convey  him  to  the 
Fathers.  ..."  {The  deceased  is  addressed^:  "  Let  thine  eye  go  to 
the  sun  "  (Surya),  thy  breath  to  the  wind  (Vayu) ;  to  earth  or  to  the  sky 
go  with  thy  several  parts,  into  the  waters  or  into  the  plants,  as  best  be- 
seems. The  goat  is  thine,  O  Agni  ;  her  kindle  with  thy  heat,  con- 
sume with  thy  flames.     But  this  man's  unborn  part  convey,  assuming 

thy  most  auspicious  forms,  to  the  abode  of  the  righteous.     .     .     ." 

• 

The  unborn  part  !  Was  ever  the  very  essence  of 
"  the  soul "  more  fehcitously  expressed  ? — A  special 
guide  is  provided,  in  the  person  of  Pushan,  the  pro- 
tector of  wayfarers.     (X.,  17.) 

"  May  Pushan  guide  thee  hence,  the  wise,  the  universal  shepherd, 
.  .  .  Pushan  knows  all  the  abodes  ;  he  guides  us  safely,  care- 
fully. .  .  .  Pushan  is  born  on  both  the  paths,  that  of  heaven  and 
that  of  earth,  and  goes  back  and  forth  between  both,  knowing  the 
way  to  the  happiest  abodes."  ' 

"  He  who  is  burnt  by  one  who  knows  all  this  goes 
to  the  heaven-world  {svarga-lokd)  with  the  smoke. 
This  is  certain."  Thus  the  author  of  the  Sutra,  set- 
ting the  seal  of  comforting  assurance  on  the  direc- 
tions just  given  for  the  performance  of  one  of  the 
most  solemn  and  sacred  of  rites. 

5.  Before  the  body  is  quite  consumed,  the  officiat- 
ing priest  recites  verse  3  of  X.,  18  (see  above),  where- 
upon all  leave  the  place  without  turning  to  look  back. 

'  The  context  of  this  makes  plain  the  highest  (mystical)  meaning  of 
Pushan's  title  "  Lord  of  the  Path,"  the  naturalistic  meaning  of  which 
presents  little  difficulty.  (See  pp.  235,  236.)  The  "  path,"  the 
"  road,"  which  he  is  asked  to  "  lay  out,"  is  that  from  this  world  to 
the  other  ;  the  "wayfarers,"  whose  guide  and  protector  he  is,  are 
the  dead,  on  their  way  to  "  the  happiest  abodes."  He  shares  with 
Agni  the  office  of  Psychopompos. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  359 

On  their  way  they  bathe  in  pure  water  and,  after 
donning  clean  clothes,  sit  where  they  are  till 
night  descends,  when  they  go  home  and  re-enter 
their  dwellings  as  the  stars  appear,  or  while  part  of 
the  sun-disk  is  still  visible.  The  relatives  of  the  dead 
lead  a  quiet  and  secluded  life  until  the  half  consumed 
bones  are  collected  and  interred.  This  ceremony 
takes  place  about  ten  days  later,  on  a  certain,  pre- 
scribed, auspicious  day  ;  it  is  followed  by  that  of 
heaping  up  the  earth  and  placing  a  tombstone  on 
the  spot;  the  verses  10-13  of  X.,  18,  are  recited  as 
the  different  acts  are  performed.  On  returning 
home,  after  bathing,  the  relatives  perform  the  first 
shraddhd — rite  with  oblations  to  the  deceased,  who 
is  now  formally  placed  among  the  Pitris  and  entitled 
to  the  honors  and  worship  which  belong  to  that 
reverend  company.' 

6.  The  question  so  often  asked,  "  Did  the  Vedic 
Aryas  believe  in  a  future  life  ?  "  becomes  idle 
indeed  in  view  of  all  this.  But  when  we  would 
inquire  more  particularly  into  their  conception  of 
the  forms  which  that  life  was  to  assume,  we  find 
nothing  definite.  We  are  at  first  inclined  to  feel  dis- 
appointed, but  soon  arrive  to  a  perception  that  in  this 
reticence  lie  a  great  beauty  and  charm.  The  hope, 
the  faith,  are  very  firm  and  definite.  Death,  though 
named  "  the  Ender,"  ends  only  what  had  a  beginning 
here,  in  this  lower  world.  There  is  in  man  a  part 
that  was  "  not  born  "  and  therefore  cannot  die.   That 

'  "  The  proper  meaning  of  shraddhd  is  "  faith."  A  rite  performed 
in  honor  of  the  departed  is  an  act  of  faith,  for  it  is  believed  that  it 
will  be  mutually  beneficial. 


360  VEDIC  INDIA. 

part,  freed  by  the  purifying  flames  from  the  earthly 
dross  that  clings  to  it,  is  "  restored  "  to  its  home  to 
lead  a  happy  and  immortal  life,  reunited  to  the 
friends  that  have  "  gone  before."  That  is  all.  What 
is  this  life  ?  What  are  its  conditions,  its  occupa- 
tions ?  Vague  imaginings  only  give  answer.  The 
blessed  dead  are  admitted  to  contemplate  the  glory  of 
"  the  two  Kings,"  Varuna  and  Yama,  where  they  sit 
under  (or  on  ?  )  "  the  tree  of  beautiful  foliage,  feasting 
and  drinking,"  (X.,  135)  (soma  of  course) — aye,  and  to 
share  in  the  feast,  for  are  not  the  Fathers  called  "  the 
soma-loving"  ?  an  accepted  manner  of  speech,  to  say 
that  they  (like  the  Ribhus)  have  received  the  gift  of 
immortahty.  But  all  this  is  vague ;  the  one  belief 
of  a  materialistic  character  which  is  positively  ex- 
pressed and  insisted  on  is  that  in  a  resurrection  in 
the  flesh,  even  while  the  body  is  supposed  to  be  dis- 
integrated and  resolved  into  its  elementary  compo- 
nent parts.  In  the  same  breath  with  which  the 
priest  addresses  the  departed,  saying,  "  Let  thine 
eye  go  to  the  sun,"  etc.,  he  also  bids  him  enter  his 
heavenly  home  "  clothed  in  a  new  and  shining  body," 
"  free  from  blemishes,"  and  immediately  goes  on  : 

"  Give  up  again,  Agni,  to  the  Fathers,  him  who  comes  offered  to 
thee  with  oblations  .  .  .  let  him  viect  his  body.  Whatever  part 
of  thee  any  blackbird,  or  ant,  or  serpent,  or  beast  of  prey  has  bitten, 
may  Agni  heal  all  that,  and  Soma,  who  has  entered  into  the 
Brahmaris." 

One  thing  appears  certain  :  that  the  "  new  body  " 
with  which  the  departed  was  to  "  clothe  himself," 
must  have  been  imagined  as  a  glorified,  probably  an 


EARLY  CULTURE.  361 

unsubstantial  one.  Was  this  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
"  astral  body"  of  modern  esoterism  ?  Why  not? 
Ahnost  everything  in  India  can  be  traced  to  the 
Veda.  The  most  definite  impression  we  receive,  how- 
ever, is  that  of  a  floating,  a  hovering,  in  infinite 
space,  in  a  flood,  a  sea  of  light.  This  impression  is 
given  and  renewed  by  a  number  of  passages  all 
through  the  Rig  : 

"  Siirya  follows  Ushas,  the  radiant,  as  a  lover  follows  a  maiden, 
where  the  god-fearing  live  from  age  to  age  and  go  from  bliss  to 
bliss."     (I.,  115.) 

"  In  the  midmost  heaven,  they  lead  a  life  of  bliss."     (X.,  15.) 
"  O  might   I  enter  Vishnu's  blessed  abode,  where  the  god-fearing 
dwell  in  joy  ;  for  they  are  the  friendly  host  of  the  mighty  strider, 
and  the  source  of  sweetness  is  in  Vishnu's  highest  place     .     .     . 
resplendent  with  light  is  the  supernal  abode."     (I.,  154.) 

And  that  most  beautiful  song  of  longing,  of  hope, 
of  adoration,  IX.,  1 1 3  ("  Where  there  is  eternal  light,*' 
etc. — see  p.  180),  is  all  bathed  in  and  pervaded  with 
the  light  that  never  was  on  land  or  sea. 

7.  So  much  for  "  the  god-fearing."  And  what  of 
the  others  ?  Was  there  a  hereafter  for  tJiem,  and 
how  did  the  Aryas  of  early  Vedic  times  picture  it? 
If  they  did,  it  was  in  even  more  indefinite  and  misty 
guise.  In  conformity  with  Aryan  dualism,  if  the 
good  live  in  eternal  light,  the  wicked  must  be  con- 
signed to  darkness  everlasting,  and  that  is  about  all. 
Varuna  and  the  other  Adityas  especially  are  the 
avengers  of  wrong,  as  we  have  seen,  and  they  cast 
the  unrepentant  into  a  "  pit,"  which  is  as  greatly 
dreaded  as  their  famous  "  nooses"  or  "  fetters  " — 
darkness,  disease,  and  death. 


362  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  The  keeper  of  Rita  is  not  to  be  deceived.  Full  of.  wisdom,  he 
surveys  all  beings.  Those  that  are  displeasing  to  him,  the  ungodly, 
he  casts  down  into  "  the  pit.     .     .     ."     (II.,  26,  8.) 

"  Remove  your  nooses,  O  gods  [the  Adityas]  ;  remove  my  sin  ; 
seize  me  not  as  a  bird  in  the  nest.  Be  with  us  this  day,  O  worship- 
ful ones  ;  I  will  tremblingly  nestle  against  your  heart ;  protect  us, 
ye  gods,  from  the  devouring  wolf  and  from  falling  into  the  pit." 
(II.,  29,  6.) 

"  Indra  holds  no  kinship  with  those  who  press  no  soma  ;  he  is 
neither  friend  nor  brother  to  them  ;  he  casts  the  unfriendly  into  the 
depths."     (IV.,  25,  6.) 

"  Cast  down  our  enemies  into  the  nethermost  darkness,"  a  Rishi 
prays  to  Indra. 

8.  It  was  not  unnecessary  to  dwell  thus  long  on 
the  vagueness,  the  indefiniteness — we  might  say  the 
spirituality — of  the  Aryan  conception  of  a  future 
life  as  we  find  it  expressed  in  the  Rig-Veda,  because 
it  differs  so  exceedingly  from  what  we  are  familiar 
with  in  later,  Brahmanic,  times.  And  the  change 
soon  comes.  In  the  Atharva-Veda  already  we  are 
confronted  by  a  thoroughly  materialistic  paradise 
and  hell.  We  are  informed  exactly  of  the  pleasures 
which  wait  on  the  blessed  dead,  and  the  torments 
which  the  wicked  dead  suffer.  The  few  delicate 
touches,  which  show  us  the  Fathers  "  revelling  in 
bliss  "  with  Yama  and  Varuna  under  "  the  tree  of 
beautiful  foliage,"  which  is  the  sky  with  its  stars,  are 
spread  and  flattened  out  into  a  broad  description  of 
prosaic  delights :  every  pious  inmate  is  approached 
by  beautiful,  luminous,  gentle  cows,  who  never  kick 
and  are  always  ready  to  be  milked  ;  mild  breezes  and 
soft  showers  cool  the  air ;  there  are  ponds  of  clari- 
fied butter,  streams  of  honey,  and  rivers  of  milk  and 
curds.  No  one  is  rich  or  poor,  powerful  or  oppressed. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  363 

The  beautiful  verse  of  IX.,  113 — "Where  there  is 
happiness  and  delight,  where  joy  and  pleasure  reside, 
where  the  desires  of  our  desire  are  attained  " — is  in- 
terpreted in  the  sense  of  the  most  earthly  delights, 
— with  the  assistance  of  the  fascinating  Apsdras,  the 
Hoiiris  of  Indian  mythology.  In  short  we  have  be- 
fore us  Islam's  paradise  in  its  completeness.  On  the 
other  hand  the  pit  of  nethermost  darkness  has  become 
a  hell— a  "  hell  of  hells  " ' — ^where  great  criminals 
sit  in  a  pool  of  blood  and  eat  hair  for  food,  while  the 
tears  of  the  wronged  and  the  water  in  which  the 
dead  are  washed  are  their  only  drink.  Yama,  too, 
the  luminous,  the  gentle  king  of  happy  spirits,  who 
was  dreaded  and  terrible  only  because  Death  wterri- 
rible  after  all,  even  at  his  mildest,  changes  fast  into 
the  grim  ruler  of  the  various  hell-worlds  {tdla,  ndrakci), 
the  ruthless  judge  and  torture-master,  tricked  out  in 
all  the  cheap  horrors  of  the  later  popular  devil.  It 
is  not  yet  so  in  the  Artharva-Veda,  to  be  sure,  but 
there  already  the  son  of  Vivasvat  wears  a  forbidding 
aspect  as  the  impersonation  of  Death  itself—'*  Yama- 
Mrityu." 

9.  There  are  various  kinds  of  Pitris  :  the  Fathers 
of  individual  families,  those  of  tribes,  and  the  Fathers 
of  the  race.  It  is  a  general  way  nations  have,  this 
of  making  tutelary  spirits  of  their  remote  ancestors, 
to  whom  they  then  look  for  aid  and  protection. 
They  generally  go  the  further  length  of  making  those 
ancestors  god-descended,  thus  not  only  keeping  up 
the  dear  and  sacred  family  bond  through  all  ages 
past  and  to  come,  but  also  asserting  their  own  con- 

'  Talatala,  the  original  form  of  the  Greek  iariaros. 


364  VEDIC  INDIA. 

nection  with  a  heavenly  home,  their  own  originally 
divine  descent.  This  is  but  a  way  of  expressing  the 
dimly  perceived  higher  and  better  self,  the  conscious- 
ness of  the  presence  in  us  of  a  something  divine, 
self-acting  and  independent  of  our  will.  Other 
nations  have  raised  to  this  dignity  their  ancient 
heroes,  the  fighters  and  lawgivers,  the  founders  of 
their  states  and  royal  houses.  But  the  Aryas  of 
India,  true  to  the  early  developed  sacerdotal  bent  of 
their  race,  claimed  descent  from  their  ancient  sacri- 
ficers  and  priestly  poets  (Rishis) — their  saints — and, 
through  them,  kinship  with  the  gods.  Thus  arose 
the  sacred  hosts  of  heaven — the  Angiras,  singers 
of  hymns,  the  Bhrigus,  whose  name  connects  them 
with  the  sacrificial  fire,*  and  many  others,  generally 
in  troops  or  groups ;  also  the  numerous  single 
saints  or  holy  patriarchs,  severally  honored  as  the 
progenitors  of  sacred  priestly  families  or  of  the 
human  race  itself,  such  as  Vasishtha,  Vishvamitra, 
Kashyapa,  and  numbers  of  others,  later  ones,  not  to 
be  found  in  the  Rig-Veda.  To  all  these  are  ascribed 
not  only  extensive  power,  together  with  the  con- 
stant desire  to  interfere  in  and  direct  the  affairs  of 
men,  but  the  highest  cosmical  functions,  even  to 
active  participation  in  the  work  of  creation  and  that 
of  preserving  the  worlds.  This  we  find  clearly 
indicated    already   in    the  Rig,    foreign  as  it    is   to 

'  "  Bhrigu  "  comes  from  a  root,  Bhrij — "  to  burn,  roast,"  and  must 
have  been  an  old  name  of  "  flame,"  of  Lightning  itself.  It  survives 
in  GTee\i  pkl/gd,  'L.airnjlagrare,  fulgere  (to  blaze,  to  y?ame,_/?are, 
/fash,  be  resplendent),  with  all  their  derivatives,  chief  of  which  is  the 
Latin  y"«/^«r,"  lightning  bolt,"  not  to  speak  of  their  numerous  pos- 
terity in  our  modern  tongues. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  365 

the  exuberant  extravagances  of  later  Brahmanism. 
What  else  but  such  cosmic  work — expressed  in 
conventional  Vedic  phrase — are  the  Angiras  doing, 
when  they  "  help  Indra  break  open  the  stable  and 
let  out  the  cows  "  ?  or  the  Fathers  (Pitris  generally), 
when  they  are  said  to  have  adorned  the  black  horse 
with  pearls  (to  light  the  stars  in  the  sky),  and  to 
have  placed  darkness  in  the  night  and  light  in 
the  day  or  to  have  spread  out  heaven  and  earth 
in  concert  with  Soma?  (VIII.,  48,  13),  or  when 
they  are  called  "warders  of  the  Sun"  (X.,  154,  5), 
and  said  to  have  "  brought  the  great  light  "  ?  It 
should  be  remembered,  though,  that  they  do  all 
this,  not  in  the  naturalistic  order  of  things,  but 
through  the  spiritual  power  conferred  by  the  fault- 
less performance  of  rites  and  sacrifices.  It  is  as  im- 
personations of  ritualistically  perfect  prayer  that  the 
Angiras  "  break  open  the  stable,"  because  such 
prayer  has  compelling  force  over  nature,  and  brings 
rain,  sunlight,  keeps  the  world  in  place,  etc.  It  is 
as  the  representatives  of  this  same  spiritual  power 
that  the  Pitris  have  so  much  to  do  with  ordering  or 
producing  natural  phenomena.  Nevertheless  the 
path  of  the  Fathers  is  distinct  from  that  of  the  gods, 
for  it  is  that  of  death  (see  X.,  18,  i,  and  88,  15),  by 
which  all  men  are  to  follow.  It  is  meet  therefore 
that  the  oblations  offered  to  both  should  also  be 
different.  So,  while  the  Fathers  are  soma-lovers  and 
soma-drinkers  and  have  a  general  invitation  to  come 
and  partake  of  it  at  sacrifices  with  the  gods,  special 
offerings  are  reserved  for  them  at  their  own  particu- 
lar commemorative  festivals — the  shraddhds — prifici- 


366  VEDIC  INDIA. 

pally  a  kind  of  wheat  cake  or  dumpling  called /m<a?<3:, 
one  of  which  is  provided  for  every  Pitar  invited. ' 
For  there  were  different  kinds  of  sJiraddhds,  on  differ- 
ent occasions  and  anniversaries.  Some  were  sacred 
to  the  memory  of  one  departed  relative,  some  to 
that  of  the  family  dead  generally,  and  some  to  that 
of  all  the  pious  and  glorified  dead — a  sort  of  All 
Saints'  Day.  The  great  hymn,  X.,  15,  would  seem 
to  have  been  fitted  for  a  solemnity  of  the  latter  kind  ; 
but  the  last  verse  shows  it  to  have  been  used  at 
funerals.  Of  course  that  particular  verse  may  have 
been  added  specially  for  such  occasions  and  omitted 
at  other  times. 

"  I.  Let  the  Fathers  arise,  the  upper,  the  lower,  and  the  middle,' 
the  offerers  of  soma,  they  the  kindly  ones,  versed  in  sacrificial  lore, 
who  have  entered  spirit-life — let  them  be  gracious  to  our  invoca- 
tions.— 2.  We  will  pay  reverence  to-day  to  the  Fathers  who  departed 
in  early  times,  and  to  those  who  followed  later  ;  to  those  who  reside 
in  the  earth's  aerial  space  and  those  that  are  with  the  races  of  the 
beautiful  dwellings.^  ...  4.  Ye  Fathers,  who  sit  on  the  sacri- 
ficial grass,  come  to  us  with  help  ;  these  oblations  we  have  prepared 
for  you  :  partake  of  them  ;  bring  us  health  and  blessings  unmixed. — 
5.  We  invite  the  soma-loving  Fathers  to  partake  of  the  food  they 
love,  placed  for  them  on  the  grass  ;  may  they  come  and  hear  us,  help 
us  and  bless  us. — 6.''  .  .  .  Do  us  no  injury,  O  Fathers,  on  ac- 
count of  any  offence  which  we,  after  the  manner  of  men,  may  have 

'Hence  the  name:  pinda-pitriyajna — "cake  oblation  to  the 
Fathers." 

*  The  three  worlds,  the  three  birthplaces  of  Agni. 

'  This  has  been  understood  by  some  as  meaning  the  races  of  men, 
while  others  interpret  "the  races  of  gods."  More  probably  the 
latter. 

^  This  is  approximative.  One  translator  has  "intercede  for  us," 
another  "  speak  graciously  to  us,"  etc.  But  there  is  no  doubt  about 
the  help  and  blessing  sued  for. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  367 

committed  against  you. — 7.  Sitting  in  the  lap  of  the  dawns,  give 
wealth  to  the  pious  mortal,  to  your  sons,  O  Fathers,  grant  them 
plenty  and  prosperity. — 8.  May  Yama,  rejoicing  with  our  ancient 
Fathers,  the  best,  the  gracious,  who  have  come  to  our  soma-oblations, 
drink  his  fill,  eager,  with  the  eager  Vasishthas. — g.  Come,  O  Agni, 
with  those  who  are  longing  and  athirst,  sitting  with  the  gods,  versed 
in  sacrifice,  praised  in  hymns  by  Rishis,  with  the  benevolent  Fathers, 
the  true,  the  wise,  who  dwell  in  light. — 10.  Come,  O  Agni,  with  the 
thousands  of  ancient  and  later  Fathers,  eaters  and  drinkers  of  obla- 
tions, who  are  reunited  with  Indra  and  the  gods,  who  praise  the  gods 
in  light. — II. — Come  hither,  ye  Fathers  that  have  been  tasted  by  fire 
(cremated).  .  .  .  13.  The  Fathers  who  are  here,  and  those  who 
are  not  here  ;  those  we  know  and  those  we  do  not  know  ;  thou,  O 
Agni,  who  knowest  all  beings  {jfdiavedas),  knowest  how  many  they 
are,  .  .  .  14.  Along  with  those  Fathers  who  were  burned  and 
those  who  were  not  burned  by  fire,'  and  who  are  gladdened  by  our 
oblation  in  the  middlemost  heaven, — with  these,  O  Self-resplendent, 
convey  this  body  to  the  spirit-world  and  shape  it  according  to  our 
desire." 

10.  If  a  people's  ideas  on  future  life  and  their 
treatment  of  their  dead  yield  a  good  standard  by 
which  to  judge  of  their  spirituality,  their  ideas  on 
domestic  life  on  earth  and  their  treatment  of  their 
women  form  an  even  more  decisive  test  of  the  degree 
of  ethical  culture  they  have  attained.  Here,  again, 
and  on  the  same  showing — that  of  the  Rig-Veda, — 
we  have  no  reason  to  be  ashamed  of  our  early  Aryan 
ancestors.  The  direct  evidence  it  affords  is  scant,  if 
we  count  by  pages,  being  contained  almost  entirely 
in  the  great  w^edding  hymn,  X.,  85  ;  but  it  is  quite 
sufficient  to  show  that  the  position  held  by  the 
Aryan  woman  in  Vedic  Penjab  was  a  most  honor- 
able, nay,  exalted   one,  which  later  influences  and 

'  In  allusion  to  the  two  rites  of  cremation  and  burial. 


368  VEDIC  INDIA. 

developments  changed  by  no  means  for  the  better, 
but  rather,  and  very  much,  for  the  worse.  Nor  is 
only  the  later  dire  doom  of  widows  meant  by  this — 
unknown,  as  we  have  seen,  to  the  early  Aryas, — but 
also,  and  even  chiefly,  the  woman's  home  life,  as 
wife  and  mother.  She  appears  to  have  been  on  a 
footing  of  perfect  equality  with  her  husband,  subject 
absolutely  to  no  one  in  his  house,  not  even  to  his 
parents,  let  alone  his  brothers  and  sisters.  What  is 
more,  she  was  a  willing  bride ;  and,  though  it  was 
customary  to  make  the  official  demand  through 
third  persons,  it  is  more  than  probable  that  her  con- 
sent was  made  sure  of  first,  and  indeed  that  she  was 
frequently  awarded  the  privilege  of  choosing  out  of 
many  suitors.  This  fine  old  Aryan  custom  endured 
far  into  the  classical  Brahmanic  period,  and  the  epics 
frequently  show  us  noble  maidens  holding  solemn 
levees  on  such  occasions — -the  so-called  Svayamvdras 
— a  custom  abundantly  vouched  for  by  the  traditions 
of  other  nations  of  Aryan  stock — Greeks,  Teutons, 
Celts.  In  her  father's  house  the  Aryan  maiden  en- 
joyed the  usual  shelter  and  cherishing,  and  her 
brothers  were  her  born  champions  and  protectors. 
For  we  find  passages  in  the  Rig-Veda  where  the 
fate  of  the  brotherless  orphan  maiden  is  deplored 
because  she  has  to  look  out  for  a  husband  herself, 
and  those  who  wrong  such  a  maiden  are  said  to  be 
"  born  for  that  fathomless  place  " — the  nameless  pit 
of  darkness  into  which  Varuna  casts  evildoers. 

II.  The  sacredness  of  the  marriage  tie  and  the 
marriage  rite  is  impressed  on  men  in  truly  Vedic 
guise  by  a  description  of  a  marriage  in  heaven,  which 


EARLY  CULTURE.  369 

forms  the  introduction  to  the  wedding  hymn.  This 
marriage  of  Surya,  the  Sun-maiden,  with  Soma,  is 
evidently  presented  as  the  prototype  of  all  earthly 
marriages,  and  as  attesting  the  divine  origin  of  the 
institution.  That  in  this  case,  as  always,  their 
heaven  was  only  a  reflection  of  their  earth,  never 
occurred  to  the  pious  performers  of  the  rite,  for  of 
that  no  people  is  ever  conscious, — not  the  masses, 
anyhow.  Surya  is  the  daughter  of  Savitar,  who 
gives  her,  "consenting  in  her  heart,"  to  Soma.  The 
Ashvins  are  the  bridegroom's  best  men  (who  made 
the  demand),  and  Agni  is  the  bride's  escort  (who 
rides  before  her  and  brings  her  to  her  husband). 
The  naturalistic  interpretation  of  the  myth  presents 
no  great  difficulty.  The  Sun-maiden  (only  another 
form  of  the  Dawn),  can  very  well  wed  with  Soma  in 
any  of  his  capacities.  Perhaps,  though,  his  sacer- 
dotal aspect,  as  king  of  sacrifice,  is  the  most  appro- 
priate, not  merely  because  of"  the  Dawn's  connection 
with  holy  rites,  but  chiefly  because  the  development 
of  the  simple  myth-nucleus  shows  Surya  to  have 
undergone  the  same  spiritually  ritualistic  transforma- 
tion as  so  many  originally  naturalistic  myth-persons, 
into  an  impersonation  of  Prayer.  The  enumeration 
of  her  bridal  paraphernalia  is  wholly  symbolical : 
"  Beautiful  in  sooth  were  Surya's  bridal  robes "  : 
they  were  made  of  different  sacred  metres.  Heaven 
and  earth  were  the  frame  of  her  chariot,  that  chariot 
itself  "  her  heart's  thought,"  hymns  were  the  beams 
that  supported  it,  "the  two  ears"  the  wheels, 
"  knowledge  "  was  her  cushion,  "  seership  "  her  jew- 
elry; sacred  songs  were  the  diadem  on  h  rbrow  and 


/ 

370  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ornaments  in  her  hair;  the  Rig  and  the  Saman 
were  the  steers  who  drew  her  chariot  "  along  the 
easy  path  of  heaven,"  We  have  here  all  the  pomp 
and  circumstance  of  Vedic  sacrifice,  and  the  sym- 
bolical description  ends  with  this  remarkable  verse : 
"  Two  wheels  of  thy  chariot,  O  Surya,  the  Brahmans 
know,  according  to  truth  ;  but  the  third,  the  hidden 
one,  is  known  only  to  the  deep-inquiring."  The 
allusion  is  here  to  "  the  two  worlds,"  visible  and 
known  to  all,  and  to  that  third  world,  mysterious, 
invisible,  which  is  the  very  sanctuary  where  the 
origin  of  things  (of  the  gods)  is  forever  hidden  from 
mortal  sight,  and  towards  which  the  searching 
thought  of  the  seers  is  ever  drawn.  Yet  in  the  face  of 
all  this,  the  popular  impression  seems  to  have  been 
that  the  marriage  of  Surya  and  Soma  is  that  of  the  Sun 
(feminine,  as  in  Germany)  and  the  Moon.  Two  verses 
(i8  and  19)  of  the  hymn  admit  of  no  other  interpre- 
tation: "These  two  children  wander  one  after  the 
other  by  their  wonderful  power;  they  go  dancing 
round  the  place  of  sacrifice.'  The  one  beholds  all 
existing  things  ;  the  other,  ordaining  the  times,  is 
born  again  and  again."  The  harmonious  cooperation 
of  the  two  rulers  of  the  heavens  is  presented  as  the 
model  of  an  harmonious  wedded  life. 

12.  The  rest  of  the  hymn  is  really  a  collection  of 
wedding  formulas  and  sayings,  loosely  strung  to- 
gether, unlike  the  great  funeral  hymn,  X.,  18,  which 
presents  such  a  beautifully  sequenced,  harmonious 
whole.      But    the    action    is   as   clearly   discernible 

*  "  Through  aerial  space  "  says  Zimmer. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  37 1 

through  the  accompanying  text.  So  we  can  easily 
imagine  the  bride's  parents  giving  her  their  final  bless- 
ing and  formally  releasing  her  from  her  duty  to  her 
own  home  and  family,  to  transfer  it  to  the  new,  as 
they  recite  these  verses  : 

"Straight  and  thornless  be  the  path  by  which  our  friends  go  to 
their  wedding.  May  Aryanian  and  Bhaga  conduct  us  all  ;  easy  to 
manage  be  the  household.  ...  I  release  thee  here,  but  not  there. 
There  I  bind  thee  with  auspicious  bonds,  that  these  twain,  O  gracious 
Indra,  may  be  rich  in  sons  and  rich  in  substance. — May  Pushan  lead 
thee  hence,  taking  thee  by  the  hand  ;  may  the  two  Ashvins  drive  thee 
on  their  chariot.     Hie  thee  to  the  house  which  thou  art  to  rule." 

Some  blessings  follow  the  bride  on  her  way,  one 
of  which  is  a  most  remarkable  and  direct  assumption 
of  "  heredity  "  as  a  lurking  danger  : 

"  The  diseases  which  follow  the  brilliant  bridal  procession  from  her 
own  clan,  let  the  venerable  gods  di-ive  them  back  to  whence  they  came. 
Let  not  waylayers  molest  the  wedded  couple  ;  may  they  pass  safely 
through  all  dangers  on  well  laid  out  paths  ;  may  all  fly  far  away  who 
bring  evil. — Beautifully  is  the  bride  adorned  ;  come,  all — contemplate 
her  ;  then,  after  wishing  her  happiness,  depart  to  your  homes." 

The  actual  marriage  rite  consisted  in  the  bride- 
groom's taking  the  bride's  right  hand  and  leading 
her  three  times  around  the  household  fire,  from  left 
to  right,  and  in  the  sacred  formula  he  recited  in  so 
doing: 

"  By  thy  right  hand  for  happiness  I  take  thee,  that  thou  mayest 
reach  old  age  with  me,  thy  husband.  Aryaman,  Bhaga,  Savitar, 
Puramdhi  (?),  gave  thee  to  me,  to  rule  our  house  together." 

"  To  thee,  O  Agni,  was  Surya  first  presented  with  her  wedding 
escort ;  so  now  give  thou  this  bride  to  her  husband,  and  offspring 
besides." 


372  VEDIC  INDIA. 

It  is  not  clear  who  recites  this  last  verse.  Scarcely 
the  husband.  At  her  arrival  at  her  new  home  the 
bride  is  welcomed  with  these  verses : 

"  Here  may  delight  be  thine  through  wealth  and  progeny.  Give 
this  house  thy  watchful  care.  Live  with  thy  husband,  and  in  old  age 
may  you  still  rule  your  household. 

"  Here  now  remain,  nor  ever  part  ;  enjoy  the  full  measure  of  your 
years  ;  with  sons  and  grandsons  sporting,  be  glad  in  heart  within  your 
house." 

It  is  the  husband  who  pronounces  the  final  bene- 
diction. These  verses  are  the  most  important  and 
significant,  as  determining  the  position  of  the  future 
housewife  : 

"Children  and  children's  children  may  Prajapati  give  us;  may 
Aryaman  bless  us  with  wealth  unto  old  age.  Enter,  not  evil-bring- 
ing, thy  husband's  homestead.  Within  the  home  may  man  and  beast 
increase  and  thrive.'  Free  from  the  evil  eye,  not  lacking  wedded 
love,  bring  good  luck  even  to  the  beasts  ;  gentle  of  mind,  bright 
of  countenance,  bearing  heroes,  honoring  the  gods,  dispensing  joyj^ 
.  .  .  This  bride,  O  gracious  Indra,  make  rich  in  sons  and  in  happi- 
ness. Grant  her  ten  children,  and  spare  her  husband  as  the  eleventh. 
— Rule  then  and  govern  over  thy  husband's  father  and  mother,  over  his 
sisters  and  his  brothers. — May  all  the  gods  unite  our  hearts.     .     .     ," 

How  absolute  the  wife's  and  mother's  supremacy, 
as  here  proclaimed  and  consecrated  by  the  husband ! 
And  what  a  terrible  falling  off  from  this  high  stand- 
ard is  presented  by  the  condition  of  women,  as 
modified  in  later  Brahmanism,  and  especially  Hin- 
duism, by  all  sorts  of  foreign  deteriorating  influences 

'  The  text  has  "  the  two-footed  and  the  four-footed." 
*  Might  not  the  passage  in  italics  be  labelled  for  all  times,  "  The 
Whole  Duty  of  Woman  "  ? 


EARLY  CULTURE.  373 

and  of  speculative  lucubrations,  the  condition  which 
endures  to  this  day  and  makes  of  the  bulk  of  Hindu 
women  one  of  the  most  deeply  oppressed,  pitiable 
fractions  of  humanity.  Even  the  popular  life  of 
modern  nations — especially  the  Slavs  and  Germans, 
where  the  son's  bride  enters  her  husband's  family  in 
an  avowedly  subordinate  capacity,  and  becomes 
almost  the  bond  slave  of  his  parents,  his  sisters' 
servant  and  scapegoat — falls  far  short  of  the  ideal  of 
domestic  life  set  up  by  our  so-called  "  barbarous  " 
early  ancestors.  That  such  an  ideal  implies  mon- 
ogamy is  self-evident. ' 

13.  Of  course  the  entire  marriage  ritual  did  not 
consist  of  only  hymn  X.,  85,  any  more  than  the 
entire  funeral  service  consisted  of  hymn  X.,  18. 
Both  are  completed  and  supplemented  by  verses 
from  other  hymns,  from  the  Rig-Veda  and  the  Athar- 
va-Veda,  the  latter  being  little  more  than  amplifi- 
cations of  the  Rig  texts,  and  mostly  lacking  their 
concise  directness,  their  simplicity.  On  the  subject 
of  love  and  marriage  customs  much  more  may  be 
gathered  from  scattered  passages,  mostly  illustrative 
similes  and  illusions — as  when  a  poet  says  to  Indra 
and  Agni,  inciting  them  to  liberality,  "  I  have  heard 
that  ye  are  more  lavish  in  gifts  than  a  son-in-law  or 
a  bride's  brother,"  and  others.     Some  spells,  too — '■ 

'  The  texts  which  have  been  adduced  as  evidences  of  polygamy 
prove  at  most  the  existence  of  harem-life,  not  that  of  polygamy  as  a 
legal  institution,  under  which  several  or  many  wives  have  equal  con- 
jugal rights.  Besides,  it  is  always  the  rich  and  the  powerful  who  are 
alluded  to  in  such  passages — and  these  have  at  all  times  allowed 
themselves  (and  been  able  to  afiford)  exceptional  latitude  in  their 
domestic  arrangements. 


374  VEDIC  INDIA. 

of  very  rare  occurrence  in  the  Rig- Veda, — are  pre- 
served ;  one  by  which  a  girl  lays  the  household 
asleep — from  her  old  grandfather  to  the  watchdog — ■ 
in  expectation  of  her  lover's  visit  ;  one  for  the 
defeat  and  destruction  of  a  rival.  The  Atharvan 
abounds  in  such  passages  and  incantations,  but  our 
object  at  present  is  to  reconstruct  Aryan  life  in  its 
more  unalloyed  form,  as  presented  on  the  internal 
evidence  of  the  purer  Rig. 

14.  There  are  a  few  so-called  hymns  which  are 
really  nothing  but  short  poems,  descriptive  of  this 
or  that  particular  feature  of  contemporary  life,  good 
or  evil — what  the  Germans  would  call  Culturbilder, — 
and  have  nothing  to  do  with  religion  ;  and  if  they 
have  been  incorporated  in  the  collection,  contrary 
to  the  rule  that  every  hymn  shall  be  addressed  to 
some  god  or  gods,  it  must  have  been  because  their 
great  literary  merit  and  cultural  importance  was 
early  recognized,  and  the  framers  of  the  sacred 
canon  saw  no  better  way  of  preserving  them.  Some 
of  them  greatly  confirm  us  in  the  impression  that  the 
Aiyan  moral  code,  as  mirrored  in  the  Rig-Veda, 
bore,  on  the  whole,  a  singularly  pure  and  elevated 
character.  So  nothing  can  be  more  nobly  beauti- 
ful, in  feeling  and  wording,  than  the  following,  on 
almsgiving,  or  rather  on  the  duty  of  giving,  of  help- 
ing, generally  (X.,  117): 

"  I.  The  gods  have  not  ordained  hunger  to  be  our  destruction. 
Even  those  who  are  full-fed  are  overtaken  by  various  forms  of  death. 
He  who  gives,  becomes  not  poorer  for  it,  but  the  miser  finds  no  com- 
fort.— 2.  He  who,  himself  well  provided,  repulses  the  poor  man, 
whom  he  knew  in  better  times,  when  he  asks  for  food  and  drink, 


EARLY  CULTURE.  375 

such  a  man  also  finds  no  comforter.' — 3.  He  is  the  bountiful  man 
who  gives  to  the  lean  beggar  who  comes  to  him  craving  food.  Suc- 
cess attends  that  man  in  the  sacrifice  and  he  secures  for  himself  a 
friend  in  the  future.^ — 4.  That  is  no  friend  who  will  not  share  with  a 
friend  who  comes  to  him  seeking  for  sustenance.  Let  every  one  de- 
part from  such  a  man — his  house  is  no  place  to  stay  at — and  seek  for 
some  one  else,  who  is  liberal,  though  he  be  a  stranger. — 5.  Let  them 
who  can  do  so,  help  those  in  need  ;  let  them  look  down  the  long  path 
(of  futurity)  :  for  oh,  riches  revolve  like  the  wheels  of  a  chariot ;  they 
come  now  to  one,  now  to  another.^ — 6.  In  vain  the  fool  obtains  food  : 
I  tell  the  truth, — it  becomes  his  destruction.  No  friend  will  be  his, 
nor  companion  ;  he  who  has  his  food  to  himself  has  his  sin  to  him- 
self." 

15.  The  leading  vices  of  the  Aryan  race  have 
always  been  drinking  and  gambling.  The  Rig-Veda 
bears  ample  witness  to  both.  The  materialistic  sym- 
bolism of  the  Soma-worship  greatly  helped  to  con- 
firm, almost  inculcate,  the  former,  by  the  stress  it 
laid  on  the  supposed  divine  (fiery)  element  in  the 
sacred  intoxicant.*  Gambling — in  the  form  of  dice 
— is  also  frequently  alluded  to.^  But  we  would 
scarcely  expect,  at  so  early  a  date,  a  portrayal  of  a 
gambler's  career,  so  modern,  we  may  say,  so  alive 
with  actuality,  as  that  given  in  the  so-called  hymn 

'  Roth's  translation  is  followed  in  this  verse. 

^  Muir's  rendering.  Grassmann  has  :  "  He  meets  the  same  treat- 
ment when  he  asks  for  assistance,"  and  Roth  :  "  He  willingly  meets 
the  cry  for  help." 

*  We  must  remember  that  the  wheel  simile  was  probably  not  trite 
three  thousand  years  ago.  And  yet — it  may  have  been  even  then  :  it 
is  used  so  glibly  !  and  occurs  repeatedly. 

*  We  have  seen  that  against  the  abuse  thus  fostered  an  important 
part  of  Zarathushtra's  reform  was  directed. — See  Story  of  Media, 
etc.,  p.  118  /. 

*See  hymn  to  Varuna,  p.  223  ;  to  Ushas,  L,  92,  10,  p.  223. 


376  VEDIC  INDIA. 

X.,  34.  It  is  the  gambler  who  speaks  in  his  own 
person,  and  no  habitue  of  Monte  Carlo  could  lay 
bare  more  remorseful  and  helpless  self-condemnation 
in  the  ruthless  grip  of  the  enthralling  passion,  or 
depict  more  graphically  its  disastrous  effects  on 
home  and  family. 

"  I.  The  tumbling,  exciting  dice  delight  me  as  they  roll  on  the 
board  ;  they  are  to  me  like  a  draught  of  the  soma-plant  growing  on 
Mount  Mujavant. — 2.  My  wife  never  quarrelled  with  me  or  irritated 
me.  She  was  kind  to  me  and  to  my  friends.  But  I,  for  the  sake  of 
the  hazardous  dice,  have  spurned  my  devoted  spouse. — 3.  My 
mother-in-law  detests  me  ;  my  wife  rejects  me  ;  the  gambler  finds  no 
comforter.  Nor  can  I  see  what  a  gambler  is  good  for,  any  more 
than  a  valuable  horse  worn  out  with  age. — 4.  Others  pay  court  to  the 
wife  of  the  man  whose  wealth  is  coveted  by  the  impetuous  dice. 
Father,  mother,  brothers,  cry  out :  '  Who  is  the  man  ?  Take  him 
away  bound  !' ' — 5.  Resolve  as  I  may,  '  I  will  play  no  more,  for  all 
my  friends  desert  me,'  the  moment  I  hear  the  rattle  of  the  brown 
ones  [dice],  I  hasten  to  the  tryst,  as  a  woman  to  her  lover. — 6.  The 
gambler  goes  to  the  assembly  [of  gamblers]  full  of  confidence  :  '  to- 
day I  win.'  But  the  dice  inflame  his  desire  by  making  over  his 
winnings  to  his  opponent. — 7.  They  are  like  fish-hooks  that  pierce 
the  flesh  ;  deceivers,  that  burn  and  torture.  After  a  brief  run  of 
luck,  they  ruin  the  winner  ;  yet  are  they  to  the  gambler  sweet  as 
honey. — 8.  Their  troop  of  fifty-three  [in  allusion  probably  to  the 
points]  disports  itself  after  rules  as  fixed  as  Savitar's  ordinances. 
They  bow  not  to  the  wrath  even  of  the  fiercest — the  king  himself 
makes  obeisance  to  them. — 9.  They  roll  downward  ;  they  bound  up- 
ward ; — having  no  hands,  they  overcome  those  who  have.  These 
celestial  coals,  when  thrown  on  the  dice-board,  scorch  the  heart, 
though  cold  themselves. — 10.  Forsaken  mourns  the  gamester's  wife, 
the  mother  for  the  son  who  roams  she  knows  not  where.  It  vexes 
him  to  see  his  own  wife  and  then  to  observe  the  wives  and  happy 


•  He  probably  having  staked  his  own  liberty  and  lost — the  depth 
of  disgrace. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  377 

homes  of  others. — 11.  In  debt,  anxious,  eager  for  money,  he  goes  to 
other  people's  house  at  night.*  In  the  morning  he  yokes  the  brown 
horses  [the  dice]  ;  by  the  time  the  fire  goes  out,  he  breaks  down 
miserably. — 12.  To  him  who  is  the  leader  of  your  great  host,  the 
king  of  your  whole  band,  I  will  not  begrudge  gifts — I  swear  it  with 
outstretched  fingers. — 13.  '  Let  the  dice  alone  ;  tend  thy  farm  ;  re- 
joice in  thy  goods  and  be  content.  Here,  gamester,  is  thy  cattle ; 
here  thy  wife.'  This  word  spake  to  me  the  adorable  Savitar. — 14. 
Make  peace  then  and  take  pity  on  me,  nor  entice  me  any  longer  with 
your  dire  witchery,  O  dice  !  Let  your  wrath,  your  enmity,  abate. 
Let  another  pine,  a  bondsman  to  the  brown  ones  !  " 

16.  That  the  vice  of  gambhng  should  breed  the 
worse  vice  of  cheating  at  play  stands  to  reason. 
Accordingly  we  find  it  mentioned  in  the  Rig-Veda 
with  a  frequency  and  familiarity  which  shows  the 
practice  to  have  been  a  common  one,  though  ac- 
counted very  heinous.'^  It  even  would  seem  to  have 
been  a  favorite  accusation  to  hurl,  out  of  malice, 
at  an  enemy,  on  a  par  and  jointly  with  that  of  the 
still  more  abhorred  practice  of  witchcraft.  Such,  at 
least,  is  the  suggestion  which  appears  to  be  offered 
by  a  very  curious  passage  in  the  long  so-called 
"cursing  hymn"  of  Vasishtha  (VII.,  104).  The 
fanatical,  irascible  old  Rishi  was  a  vigorous  and 
comprehensive  curser,  and,  while  he  was  about  it, 
anathematizing  the  foes  of  his  people  and  of  his 
gods,  he  gave  a  "  raking  "  to  his  own  personal  ene- 
mies, vehemently  repudiating  certain  aspersions  on 
his  character  : 

'  To  beg,  or  to  steal  ? 

^  It  is  evidently  alluded  to  in  the  verse  quoted  on  p.  223  (I.,  92, 
10)  :  Ushas  cheats  men  out  of  their  lives,  as  the  "  clever  gambler" 
his  associates  out  of  the  stakes. 


37^  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  He  who  attacks  me  with  lying,  angry  words  when  I  go  my  ways, 
thinking  no  evil,  let  him,  O  Indra,  come  to  nothing,  as  water  that  is 
taken  up  in  the  hollow  of  the  hand.  ...  If,  O  Agni,  I  were  a 
cheating  gamester, — if  I  did  honor  the  gods  hypocritically  !  But 
why  art  thou  wroth  with  me  ?  Cast  the  slanderers  into  misery. — Let 
me  die  this  day  if  I  ever  practised  witchcraft,  or  ever  destroyed  any 
man's  vital  power  by  spells  :  may  he,  therefore,  lose  his  friends  who 
falsely  called  me  wizard. — Him  who  said  to  me,  the  pure,  '  A  wizard 
art  thou,'  who,  himself  a  fiend,  boasted  'I  am  holy' — him  may  Indra 
slay  with  his  great  weapon,  may  he  fall  into  the  nethermost  depth." 

17.  The  first  part  of  this  effusion  is  the  most  ener- 
getic piece  of  cursing  in  the  whole  Rig-Veda,  and 
speaks  volumes  for  the  Vedic  Aryas*  capacity  for 
wholesome,  whole-hearted  hatred  of  their  native  foes 
or  religious  antagonists.  Indra  and  Soma  are 
jointly  implored  to  deal  with  them  : 

"Indra  and  Soma,  burn  the  devils,  destroy  them,  throw  them 
down,  ye  two  Bulls,  the  people  that  grow  in  darkness  !  Hew  down 
the  madmen,  suffocate,  kill  them  ;  hurl  them  away  and  slay  the 
voracious. — Indra  and  Soma,  up  together  against  the  cursing  demon  ! 
May  he  burn  and  hiss  like  an  oblation  in  the  fire  !  Put  your  ever- 
lasting hatred  upon  the  villain  who  hates  the  Brahman,  who  eats 
flesh,  and  whose  look  is  abominable.' — Indra  and  Soma,  hurl  the 
evildoer  into  the  pit,  even  into  unfathomable  darkness  !  May  your 
strength  be  full  of  wrath  to  hold  out,  that  not  one  may  come  out 
again."* 

The  third  part  consists  of  a  string  of  curses  on  a 
variety  of  evil  spirits  and  goblins  that  lurk  in  the 
night — some  invisible,  some  in  all  sorts  of  uncanny 

'  ' '  Brahman  "  here  has  the  meaning  ' '  he  who  prays  rightly, "  and 
may  apply  to  the  priests  as  a  class,  not  yet  as  a  caste,  except  as  there 
may  be  said  to  be  "  caste  feeling,"  or  strong  dislike  and  aloofness, 
on  the  part  of  the  Aryas  against  the  natives — Dasyus. 

'  Max  MUUer's  rendering. 


EARLY  CULTURE.  379 

forms — dog,  owl,  cuckoo,  hawk,  birds  that  whirr 
through  the  darkness,  defihng  sacrifices — and  ends 
with  a  prayer  to  Indra,  for  protection  against  "  the 
fury  of  the  wizards  "  and  the  wiles  of  witches,  and 
for  the  destruction  of  both  them  and  "  the  idols  with 
the  crooked  necks."  '  On  the  whole  it  seems  as 
though  Vasishtha  and  his  particular  people — i.  e.,  the 
tribe  whose  purohita  he  was,  for  whom  he  prayed 
and  sacrificed — were  molested  and  beset  in  this  man- 
ner to  an  unusual  extent.  Which  may  not  appear 
strange  if  we  remember  that  Vasishtha  was  the  un- 
compromising foe  of  the  native  races,  the  fierce 
champion  of  Aryan  exclusiveness,  the  founder  of 
Brahmanic  orthodoxy  and  priestcraft  in  their  more 
offensive  forms.  It  is  no  wonder  that  those  whose 
enlightenment  he  opposed,  whom  he  despised, 
abominated,  and  cursed,  should  have  retaliated  in  all 
direst  ways  known  to  them.     (See  pp.  320^7".) 

18.  The  few  instances  we  find  in  the  Rig- Veda  of 
the  active  use  of  spells  may  certainly  be  classed  under 
the  head  of  "  white  " — or  harmless — magic,  since  they 
consist  almost  entirely  of  the  gathering  and  handling 
of  herbs,  apparently  not  even  accompanied  by  con- 
juring— except  in  the  case  of  a  woman,  who  digs  up 
a  plant  to  make  a  love  potion  of,  for  the  routing 
of  a  rival  in  her  husband's  affections  (X.,  145).  She 
appears  to  have  been  successful,  for  there  is  a  song 
of  triumph  and  exultation  at  having  got  rid  of  all 
intruders  and  secured  her  proper  place  as  sole  ruler 
of  her  household.     But  the  general  and  approved 

'  Grassmann. 


380  VEDIC  INDIA. 

uses  of  herbs  and  plants  were  evidently  for  healing 
purposes,  as  shown  in  the  so-called  "  Song  of  the 
Physician " — really  an  herb-healer,  who  wanders 
about  the  country  with  his  box  of  ashvattha-wood. 
The  good  man  makes  no  secret  of  the  fact  that  his 
chief  object  is  a  livelihood.  This  charming  Cultur- 
bild  abounds  in  little  homely  touches  which  throw 
just  the  side-lights  we  are  so  eager  for  on  the  man- 
ners and  ways  of  those  otherwise  unattainable  times. 
The  healer  begins  by  formally  announcing  that  he 
will  sing  the  praise  of  "  the  herbs,  the  verdant  " 
which  are  among  the  oldest  of  things. 

".  .  .  Hundred-fold  are  your  ways,  thousand-fold  your  growth, 
endowed  with  hundred  various  powers :  make  me  this  sick  man  well. 
Give  me  victory  as  to  a  prize-winning  mare.  .  .  .  For 
I  must  have  cattle,  horses,  and  clothes.  .  .  .  You  will  be  worth 
much  to  me,  if  you  make  my  sick  man  well.  He  in  whose  hands 
herbs  are  gathered  as  numerous  as  nobles  [or  princes,  rdjans\  in  the 
assembly,  he  is  accounted  a  skilful  healer,  a  tamer  of  fiends  and 
diseases. — The  watery,  the  milky,  the  nourishing,  the  strengthening, 
— here  they  all  are  together,  to  heal  what  is  wrong  with  him. — The 
herbs'  fragrance  escapes  [from  the  box]  as  a  herd  from  the  stable,  to 
earn  a  good  price  for  me — and  thy  life  for  thee,  good  man.  .  .  . 
No  let  or  hindrance  keeps  them  back  ;  they  are  as  the  thief  who 
breaks  through  fences.  .  .  .  When  I,  O  ye  simples,  grasp  you 
sternly  in  my  hands,  sickness  flees  away,  as  a  criminal  who  fears  the 
grip  of  the  law.  In  your  progress  from  limb  to  limb,  and  from 
one  articulation  to  another,  ye  drive  sickness  before  you,  as  surely 
as  a  severe  judge's  sentence. — Flee  then,  sickness,  flee  away — with 
magpies  and  with  hawks;  flee  on  the  pinions  of  the  winds,  nay  of  the 
whirlwinds."' 

19.  That  our  herb-healer  was  no  exception  with 
his  "eye  to  business,"  is  most  graphically  shown  by 

'  Roth's  translation  is  here  followed. 


EARLY  CULTURE,  38 1 

the  following  short  and  humoristic  piece,  which, 
besides,  is  of  importance  as  bearing  witness  to  the 
absence  of  caste  divisions  in  the  thorough  confusion 
of  pursuits  which  it  describes : 

*'  We  men  have  all  our  various  fancies  and  designs.  The  carpenter 
seeks  something  that  is  broken,  the  doctor  a  patient,  the  priest  some- 
body who  will  sacrifice. — The  smith,  with  well-dried  wood,  with 
anvil  and  with  feather  fan,  to  activate  the  flame,  seeks  after  a  man 
with  plenty  of  gold. — I  am  a  poet,  my  father  is  a  doctor,  my  mother 
a  grinder  of  corn.  With  our  different  views,  seeking  for  gain,  we 
run  (after  our  respective  objects)  as  after  cattle." 

20.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  to  extract  from  the 
hymns  infinitely  more  material — mostly  fragmentary 
— than  we  could  attempt  here  for  the  reconstruction 
of  Vedic  life.  This  has  been  done  exhaustively  by 
H.  Zimmer,  in  his  unique  and  most  valuable  work, 
Altifidisches  Leben,  to  which  we  refer  the  more  in- 
quiring of  our  readers ;  with  the  remark,  however, 
that  he  takes  his  material  from  all  the  four  Samhitds, 
and  therefore  presents  probably  a  somewhat  later 
picture  of  Aryan  culture  than  that  which  we  have, 
in  this  chapter,  striven  to  evolve  almost  entirely  from 
the  Rig- Veda  alone. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   RIG-VEDA  :   SACRIFICE. 

1.  It  seems  at  first  sight  as  though  a  chapter  on 
Vedic  culture  must  be  wofully  incomplete  if  it  does 
not  include  a  picture  of  the  status  of  the  priests  in 
the  social  and  moral  order  of  those  early  Aryan  com- 
munities, and  a  description  of  their  ministrations, 
which  may  all  be  comprised  under  the  one  head  of 
Yajna — Sacrifice.  But  it  is  just  because  of  the  im- 
mense extent  of  the  subject,  and  its  immense  import 
not  merely  in  the  actual  life,  outer  and  inner,  but 
in  the  evolution  of  the  religious  and  philosophical 
thought  of  one  of  the  world's  great  races,  that  it  can- 
not possibly  be  disposed  of  among  other  matters,  but 
imperatively  demands — when  it  cannot  have  a  book 
— a  chapter  to  itself. 

2.  The  priests  who  confront  us  in  the  Rig-Veda, 
though  already  forming  a  distinct  class  (not  caste), 
are  simpler  in  attitude  and  in  organization  than  their 
successors,  the  Brahmans.  Instead  of  the  large  array 
of  priests  of  various  rank,  specialists  in  numberless 
details  of  ritual,  there  is  the  priest  generally — hotar, 
and  the  tribal  or  family  ^nest—piirohita.  That  the 
ritual,  however,  was  already  complicated  and  exceed- 

382 


SACRIFICE.  383 

ingly  precise,  is  shown  very  clearly  through  all  the 
Rig  texts.  The  priests'  services  were  appreciated 
and  rewarded  accordingly.  There  is  a  whole  class  of 
texts — usually  verses  appended  or  interpolated — 
known  under  the  name  of  ddnastiitis.  They  consist 
of  lists  of  the  presents  received  from  wealthy 
chieftains  and  royal  patrons,  intermingled  with 
praises  and  blessings,  and  frequently  mention- 
ing the  occasion  which  prompted  the  largess 
—  dakshind  is  the  technical  word.  Historically 
these  are,  of  course,  among  the  most  valuable 
texts,  from  the  glimpses  of  contemporary  life  and 
manners  which  they  afford.  We  meet  there,  too, 
familiar  names — of  tribes  known  to  us  from  the  his- 
torical portions;  of  famous  kings  belonging  to  the 
more  powerful  dynasties.  Thus  Divodasa,  king  of 
the  Tritsu,  is  one  of  three  kings  who  are  named  as 
having  given  a  large  bounty  out  of  the  booty  gained 
in  a  successful  expedition  against  Shambara,  the 
mountain  chieftain  :  10  steeds,  10  baskets  full  of 
raiment  and  other  articles,  10  lumps  of  gold,  100  head 
of  cattle.  Another  time  Sudas,  Divodasa's  son,  is 
one  of  the  givers.  Then  it  is  a  king  of  the  Turvasu 
who  presents  two  illustrious  priestly  families  with 
6o,QOO  head  of  cattle,  while  a  king  of  the  Yadu  re- 
wards the  Kanvas  for  a  victory  over  the  Parsu  (a 
Persian  tribe)  which  is  attributed  to  the  efficacy  of 
their  prayers,  with  a  dakshind  of  300  horses,  10,000 
cattle,  many  double  teams  of  oxen.  Again  Trasa- 
dasyu,  grandson  of  the  powerful  Puru  king  Kutsa, 
sends  the  Kanvas  50  women  slaves.  Handsome 
chariots  and  harness  are  highly  prized  ;  the  horses  are 


384  VEDIC  INDIA. 

frequently  said  to  be  "  richly  adorned  with  pearls."  * 
One  Kanva  priest  exults  in  advance  over  an  ex- 
pected dakshind  in  cattle,  which  he  has  reason  to 
think  will  be  so  abundant  that  people  will  say  Vala, 
the  cave-demon,  has  given  up  his  kine.  Of  course, 
the  more  generous  the  givers  the  higher  the  praise. 
The  Kanvas  appear  to  have  come  in  for  more  good 
things  than  any  of  the  others.  It  is  still  one  of  their 
family  who  boasts  of  having  received  from  a  king 
with  the  significant  name  of  "  Wolf  to  the  Dasyu  " 
{Dasyavevrika),  on  occasion  of  a  great  victory  over 
black  native  tribes,  a  dakshind  of  100  white  cattle  as 
shining  as  the  stars  of  heaven,  100  bamboo  reeds,  100 
dogs,  100  tanned  hides,  lOO  mats  of  a  certain  grass, 
400  bay  mares.  A  certain  king  Tchitra  must  have 
shown  unheard  of  liberality,  to  judge  from  the  praise 
bestowed  on  him  :  "  Only  Indra  gives  as  much,  or 
wealth-dispensing  Sarasvati,"  exclaims  the  priest 
(again  a  Kanva)  ;  "  Tchitra  is  a  real  king  \rdjaii],  all 
the  others  are  wretched  little  kinglets  [rdjaka\  those 
that  live  along  the  Sarasvati.  But  he — he  is  like 
a  thundering  rain-cloud,  and  gives  a  thousand 
myriads."     (Of  what  ?  not  specified.) 

3.  Sometimes  approval  is  expressed  in  a  cool,  al- 
most condescending  tone:  "Not  the  most  carping 
mortal,  ye  warriors,  can  find  fault  with  you."  But 
when  a  priest  is  dissatisfied,  he  is  not  slow  in  ex- 
pressing his  displeasure,  usually  in  the  form  of  sneers 
and  sarcasm.     A  Prithu  (Parthian)  king,  who  gave 

*  This  must  have  been  a  customary  way  of  ornamenting  harness  and 
bridles ;  hence  the  simile  of  the  starry  night-sky  as  a  black  horse 
adorned  with  pearls. 


SACRIFICE.  3^5 

only  two  horses  and  twenty  cows  for  a  victory,  is 
taunted  with  being  hard  to  get  anything  from,  while 
another  is  likened  to  a  Pani  chief,  and  dismissed  with 
the  ironical  remark  :  "  That  is  why  our  loyal  singers 
[priests]  have  so  much  to  say  in  praise  of  Bribu,  that 
most  liberal  of  princes.  The  inagJiavans  [princes] 
give  out  of  ostentation."  This  ill-natured  remark 
from  a  Vasishtha  sounds  like  the  grim  old  Rishi  him- 
self. But  no  modern  diatribe  could  surpass  in  scath- 
ing irony  two  ddnast litis,  evidently  composed  with 
the  intent  of  securing  to  the  givers  immortality  of 
the  undesirable  kind  : 

"  O  friends,"  the  first  begins,  "  get  up  your  enthusiasm  :  how  are 
we  to  give  due  praise  to  Shara,  the  generous,  the  liberal  giver? — 
Many  of  the  singers  [priests]  who  spread  the  sacrificial  grass  will 
praise  thee  as  is  meet,  O  Shara,  if  thou  dost  present  them  with  a  calf 
apiece,  as  thou  didst  us. — The  noble  son  of  Shuradeva,  the  wealthy 
lord,  brought  us  three  each  a  calf,  leading  it  by  the  ear,  as  one  does  a 
goat,  that  she  may  stand  and  let  her  young  nurse  her." 

Another  is  indignant  at  having  received,  for  some 
elaborate  hymns  to  the  Ashvins,  of  his  composing, 
only  a  chariot  without  team  or  harness.  He  makes 
fun  of  it,  holding  the  divine  Twins  responsible  for 
his  disappointment. 

"  From  the  Ashvins,  the  rich  in  horses,  I  received  a  teamless 
chariot ;  it  pleased  me  much  in  sooth. — It  will  have  to  push  on  some- 
how with  me  to  the  place  where  men  drink  soma,  the  handsome 
wagon. — Let  me  have  nought  to  do  with  dreams  or  with  wealthy 
misers  :  they  are  equally  unsubstantial."  ' 

'  For  chapter  and  verse  to  all  this,  see  Ludwig  Rig-Veda,  vol.  iii., 
pp.  2"] 2,-2']'],  where  he  gives  a  list  of  all  the  ddnastutis,  which  may 
then  be  looked  up  in  the  hymns. 

25 


386  VEDIC  INDIA. 

'  4.  It  is  evidently  of  set  purpose  that  these — we 
may  well  call  them  mercenary — effusions  were  incor- 
porated in  the  sacred  smnJdtd,  embalmed  in  it  as 
flies  in  amber,  for  the  edification  of  all  coming  gen- 
erations. They  were  to  inculcate,  by  precept  and 
example,  by  praise  and  withering  scorn,  the  para- 
mount duty,  not  merely  of  honouring  and  support- 
ing the  priesthood,  but  lavishing,  heaping  gifts  on 
them.  Though,  when  we  read  of  all  these  tens  and 
sixties  of  thousands  of  horses  and  cattle,  these  untold 
"  myriads  "  of  unknown  things,  we  cannot  rid  our- 
selves of  a  suspicion  that  these  wonderful  lists  were 
sometimes  deliberately  swelled,  the  better  to  enhance 
the  priests'  merits  and  claims.  There  still,  however, 
remains  enough,  even  with  this  margin,  to  astonish 
and  puzzle — the  rewards  are  so  out  of  all  proportion 
to  what  seems  to  us  the  simple  ministration  of  con- 
ducting religious  services — unless  there  was  more  in 
them  than  meets  the  eye  at  first  sight.  Which,  in- 
deed, was  the  case.  For  the  priests  were  not  thought 
merely  to  assist  and  lead  the  devotions  of  their 
people,  in  praying  and  rendering  thanks  for  happy 
events,  such  as  a  victory  gained,  a  successful  expe- 
dition, for  the  prospering  of  crops  and  cattle,  for 
increase  in  offspring  and  wealth.  No,  these  results 
were  directly  attributed  to  and  thought  to  depend 
on,  the  praying  {brahnia)  of  the  priests,  their  text- 
reciting,  the  sacrificial  rites  performed  by  them  ;  they 
would  not  have  taken  place  if  the  priests  had  not 
done  these  things  or  had  not  done  them  in  the  right 
way.  This  is  perfectly  illustrated  by  a  very  effective 
passage  in  one  of  the  historical  Vasishtha  hymns : 


SACRIFICE.  387 

"  Irresistibly  smiting,  O  Indra  and  Varuna,  ye  stood  by  Sudas  ;  ye 
heard  the  brahma  that  cried  aloud  to  you  :  successful  was  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  Tritsu  purohitas. — Both  hosts  called  on  you  in  the  battle, 
for  victory  and  booty,  when  ye  helped  Sudas  and  the  Tritsu,  when 
they  were  encompassed  around  by  the  Ten  Kings. — The  ten  confed- 
erate kings  who  do  not  sacrifice  could  not  conquer  Sudas.  Efficient 
was  the  prayer  of  the  partakers  of  the  sacrifice  [the  priestsj,  the  gods 
came  to  their  sacrifices. — To  Sudas,  hard  pressed  in  the  Battle  of  the 
Ten  Kings,  ye  gave  help,  O  Indra  and  Varuna,  when  the  Tritsu, 
white-robed  and  with  braided  hair,  humbly  prayed  to  you."  ' 

Now  the  "  ten  kings,"  as  we  have  seen,  were  not 
all  Dasyu,  or  wholly  Dasyu,  and  if  they  invoked  the 
Aryan  gods  in  battle,  they  must  have  sacrificed  to 
them.  But  they  (/.  e.,  their  priests  for  them)  must 
have  blundered,  for  sacrifice,  when  rightly  performed, 
compels  the  result.  What  bounds,  then,  should  a 
king  set  to  his  liberality  in  gratitude  for  a  victory 
which  he  oives  to  h\s pur ohit a  and  assisting  priests  ?" 

5.  This  notion  of  obtaining  certain  exceptional 
boons  through  the  force  of  prayer  and  sacrifice,  is 
not  as  foreign  to  our  mode  of  thinking  as  that  which 
ascribes  to  them,  as  produced  by  them,  the  regular 

'  Meaning  the  Tritsu  priests,  this  being  the  priestly  garb. 

'  Not  all  priests  were  wealthy,  though.  We  meet  here  and  there 
curiously  suggestive  plaints  like  that  of  a  priest  who  laments  that 
rivals  crowd  him  on  all  sides,  till  he  is  ready  to  faint  with  want  and 
exhaustion  and  care  gnaws  him  as  a  mouse  gnaws  its  own  tail,  "  me," 
he  adds  pathetically,  "me,  thy  singer,  O  Indra,  mighty  one!" 
(x.  33,  2-3).  We  have  seen  in  the  satirical  song  ix.  112,  that  the 
priest's  "  seeking  for  someone  who  will  offer  libations"  was  a  social 
fact  as  universally  admitted  as  that  of  the  carpenter  looking  for  a  job 
or  the  doctor  for  a  patient.  (See  p.  381.)  We  may  be  sure  that  such 
poor  bread-winners  did  not  belong  to  illustrious  and  ancient  priestly 
families,  like  those  of  the  Vasishthas,  Kanvas,  Bhasadvajas,  and  the 
like. 


388  VEDIC  INDIA. 

recurrence  of  the  beneficent  phenomena  of  nature — 
rain  and  h'ght,  the  alternation  of  night  and  day,  the 
coming  of  the  dawn  and  the  sun,  of  the  moon  and 
the  stars.  Nor  is  there  anything  unlogical  in  this: 
once  it  is  admitted  that  the  gods  do  their  work  in 
response  to  sacrifice,  the  converse  proposition  is  by 
no  means  far-fetched,  namely  that  they  will  not  do  it 
unless  so  solicited.  It  remains  for  us  to  find  out 
wherein  lay  this  compelling  power  of  the  braJima 
(ritualistically  correct  prayer),  and  the  yajna  (ritual- 
istically  perfect  sacrifice).  This  is  equivalent  to  the 
question :  What  was  the  essence  and  nature  of 
Aryan  sacrifice  ? 

6.  Abel  Bergaigne,  of  all  Vedic  scholars,  has 
treated  this  question  most  thoroughly,  has  gone 
deepest  and  nearest  to  the  root  of  it.  The  conclu- 
sions to  which  his  investigations  lead  him  can  be 
summed  up  as  follows:  Sacrifice  is  an  imitation  of 
the  chief  phenomena  of  the  sky  and  the  atmosphere. 
Now  it  is  a  notion  as  old  as  the  race,  that  a  thing 
ardently  wished  for  may  be  made  to  come  to  pass  in 
reality,  by  performing  or  reproducing  that  thing  in 
efifigy.  This  strange  aberration  was  one  of  those 
that  died  hardest,  for  we  find  it  very  much  alive 
down  to  the  later  Middle-Ages,  in  the  form  of  that 
spell  of  the  Black  Art  which  consisted  in  making  a 
wax  efifigy  of  an  enemy,  then  melting  it  over  a  slow 
fire  or  sticking  a  pin  into  the  place  where  the  heart 
should  be,  in  the  expectation  that  the  person  treated 
thus  in  efifigy  would  waste  away  with  consumption 
or  heartbreak.  The  custom  of  executing  criminals, 
of  burning  or  hanging  obnoxious  persons  in  efifigy, 


SACRIFICE.  389 

when  they  are  out  of  reach,  is  clearly  based  on  the 
same  primitive  idea.  And  if  efficient  for  evil,  why 
should  not  the  same  spell  be  efficient  for  good  also? 
Sacrifice,  looked  at  from  this  point  of  view,  would 
be,  then,  a  sort  of  beneficent  conjuring,  in  accordance 
with  the  bright  and  genial  Aryan  spirit,  while  the 
dark  and  lowering  Turanian  nature  revels  in  spells 
and  incantations  for  malicious,  injurious  purposes.' 

7.  Two  things  are  needful:  light  and  rain — Fire 
and  Water — Agni  and  Soma.  They  are  produced  in 
two  of  the  three  worlds — the  Sky  and  the  Atmos- 
phere. The  Devas  (powers  of  nature)  are  always 
producing  them.  Agni  is  always  being  "  found  "  in 
the  waters:  as  Lightning  in  the  cloud-sea  {saimidrd), 
as  the  Sun  in  the  golden  waters  of  the  sea  of  light. 
The  Cows  are  always  being  found  and  brought  back 
to  be  milked :  the  cloud-kine  with  their  rain-laden 
udders ;  the  light-kine  with  their  golden  milk — the 
Dawns  and  their  rays.  This  is  the  gods'  allotted 
work,  and  they  do  it  unremittingly,  following  "  the 
broad  path  of  Rita "  (the  Law).  Only  they  need 
sustenance,  to  invigorate  them  and  keep  them  ever 
living,  ever  young  ;  this  sustenance  they  receive  by 
partaking  of  the  "  drink  of  immortality  " — \.h.Qamrtia 
—the  heavenly  Soma  which  they  distil  ("  press  "), 
out  of  the  watery  elements  somewhere  in  the  highest 
heaven,  the  hidden  world,  the  Sanctuary  of  the 
Universe.     All  this  work,  this  everlasting  keeping  of 

'  Bergaigne  mentions  a  custom  which  he  was  told  of  as  still  exist- 
ing on  the  Isle  of  Ceylon,  and  which  consists  in  placing  neai  a 
growing  fruit  a  pasteboard  efifigy,  of  the  size  which  it  is  desired  tliai 
the  real  fruit  should  attain. 


390  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  world-machrnery  going,  has  an  object :  to  benefit 
the  race  of  men  that  dwells  on  earth  (of  course  the 
righteous,  well-thinking  men,  i.  e.,  the  Aryas,  and 
such  of  the  others  as  they  approve  of).  It  is  but 
meet,  therefore,  that  men  should  try  to  please  the 
gods,  keep  on  good  terms  with  them, — not  merely 
out  of  gratitude,  but  also  because,  should  they  be 
displeased,  they  might  sulk  and  "  strike,"  and  then 
where  would  this  earth  and  its  denizens  be?  Thanks 
can  be  expressed  in  words  and  gifts,  and  the  gods 
shall  have  both,  unstinted.  Only,  the  bulk  of  men 
can  feel,  but  not  always  express ;  are  willing  to  give, 
but  do  not  always  know  what  and  how  to  give,  and 
the  consequences  of  giving  offence  might  be  serious. 
So  men  will  do  wisely  to  leave  these  things  to  their 
poet-priests,  as  their  mouth-pieces  and  dispensers — 
those  superior,  mysteriously  gifted  individuals, 
human,  yet  more  than  human  '*  into  whom  the 
divine  Vach  has  entered  "  (see  p.  270),  and  who, 
therefore,  can  commune  with  the  gods  without  fear 
or  dif^dence,  with  ever-flowing,  river-like,  musical 
speech,  who  are  on  intimate  terms  with  those  bright, 
beneficent,  but  awful  Powers,  understand  their  na- 
ture, their  likes  and  dislikes,  and  know  exactly  what 
offerings  must  please  them,  and  how  to  make  such 
offering  acceptable.  But  it  is  no  more  than  human 
nature,  in  returning  thanks  for  favors  received,  to 
request  the  continuance, — if  possible,  an  increase — 
of  them.  The  thanksgiving  then  becomes  a  prayer, 
the  thank-offering  a  bribe.  The  whole  transaction 
degenerates  into  a  bargain.  The  gods  are  praised 
and  entreated,  encouraged  to  do  their  work  and  be- 


SACRIFICE.  391 

stow  boons,  and  it  is  expected  they  will.  For  even 
mere  mortals — let  alone  higher  beings,  noble  and 
mighty — would  scorn  to  accept  and  not  give.  Here 
again  the  priests,  as  specialists  in  matters  of  etiquette 
and  intercourse  between  "the  two  worlds,"  (which 
are  said  to  be  as  nearly  connected  as  two  neighbor- 
ing villages),  are  the  natural  go-betweens  and 
masters  of  ceremonies.  These  matters  are  all-im- 
portant, for  the  very  existence  of  the  universe, 
and,  therefore,  of  men,  is  at  stake,  and,  to  at- 
tend to  them  properly,  the  priest  must  devote  to 
them  all  his  time,  his  undivided  study,  and 
attention.  It  is  only  right  therefore — on  the  princi- 
ple of  division  of  labor — that  he  should  be  exempted 
from  other  duties,  and  only  just  that  he  should  be  sup- 
ported in  dignified  comfort  and  remunerated  on  spe- 
cial occasions,  when  his  ministrations  have  proved 
particularly  and  palpably  successful.  This  is  the  con- 
ception of  sacrifice  and  priesthood  we  are  familiar  with 
from  our  study  of  the  religions  of  antiquity.  But  the 
specifically  Aryan  sacrifice,  which  has  been  developed 
by  Indian  Brahmanism  to  its  uttermost  possibilities, 
and  endures,  to  a  great  extent,  to  this  day,  goes  a 
step  further,  the  step  indicated  by  Bergaigne. 

8.  It  is  understood  that  the  Devas  are  beneficent 
and  well-disposed,  as  willing  as  they  are  able,  to  be- 
stow benefits  and — what  is  more  important  still — to 
"keep  the  world  going."  '     Still,  it  were  verydesir- 

*  It  may  be  remarked  incidentally,  that  this  is  the  original  and  literal 
meaning  of  "  Rita."  The  root  Ri  means  "  to  flow,"  and  we  find  it  in 
the  Greek  rhed  and  again  in  our  own  river.  The  Supreme  Law, 
the  Cosmic  Order,  is  the  even  flow  of  natural  phenomena — the  na- 
tural sequence  of  things  ;  "  Es  ist  der  Lauf  der  Welt." 


392  VEDIC  INDIA. 

able  to  be  able  to  coerce  them — of  course  by  fair 
means — into  doing  what  we  want :  that  would  make 
things  absolutely  safe  for  men.  Here  comes  in  that 
old,  old  notion — of  producing  a  thing  by  an  imita- 
tion of  it.  On  the  "  finding"  of  the  heavenly  Agni 
and  the  heavenly  Soma,  in  obedience  to  the  "  fixed 
ordinances  "  of  Rita,  the  preservation,  the  continu- 
ance of  the  world  hangs  as  on  a  hinge.  Let  Agni 
and  Soma,  then,  be  "  found  "  (produced)  here  on 
earth,  strictly  according  to  the  "  fixed  ordinances  "  of 
sacrificial  Law  and  Order — the  rite,  the  ritual.^ 
The  sacred  act  on  earth  shall  be  the  companion  piece 
to  that  in  the  sky  and  the  atmosphere ;  the  counter- 
part shall  be  as  exact  as  inventive  ingenuity,  aided 
by  poetical  imagination,  can  make  it.  The  terrestrial 
Agni  is  "  found,"  "  hidden  "  in  the  plants — the  wood 
of  the  arani,  and  in  the  terrestrial  Soma,  the  plant 
that  gives  the  fiery  drink  which  warms  and  invigor- 
ates, exhilarates  and  inspires,  till  men  cry  out :  **  We 
have  drunk  the  Soma,  we  have  become  immortal, 
we  have  known  the  gods  "  ;  in  the  waters,  too,  for 
it  is  in  water  that  the  bruised  and  broken  stems  are 
laid,  to  start  the  fermenting  process  which  evolves 
the  fiery  element  of  the  beverage.  This  water  is 
the  counterpart  of  the  heavenly  Waters,  the  Mothers 
of  Agni,  and  the  large  kettle  or  vat  into  which  the 
Soma  is  pressed  is  called  the  sajundra.  The  other 
ingredient  is  milk — the  milk  of  the  earthly  cow, 
the  counterpart  of  the  heavenly  and  atmospheric 
Kine  of   Light   and  Rain.     Agni  and   Soma   were 

*  Really  the  same  word  as  "  Rita  "  ; — it  is  more  than  an  identity 
of  rooL 


SACRIFICE.  393 

both  "  brought  from  afar,"  the  former  "  from  Vivas- 
vat,"  the  latter  from  "  the  house  of  Tvashtar  " — /.  c, 
from  the  sky,  luminous  and  frowning ;  therefore 
the  consecrated  spot  on  which  the  sacrifice  takes 
place,  becomes  "  the  seat  of  Vivasvat."  The  vedi, 
(the  place  spread  with  sacred  kusJia  grass),  is  "  the 
seat  of  the  gods."  Thunder  is  the  voice,  the  speech, 
the  song  of  the  gods — the  divine  VAcH.  This 
Vach  has  "  entered  into  the  Rishis,"  and  they  sent 
her  forth  as  the  sacred  word — the  well-worded  prayer, 
the  beautifully  fashioned  hymn.  Thunder  also  is  the 
crashing  of  the  grinding  stones,  and  rain  the  Soma 
that  drops  through  the  sieve  or  the  woollen  filter 
and  flows  and  runs,  noisily,  abundantly,  into  the 
vats — as  the  rain  which  drops,  and  flows  from  the 
sky,  amid  thunder  and  lightning,  is  Soma,  amrita. 
The  counterpart  is  complete.  The  sacrificial  rite — 
the  earthly  Rita — reaches  out  and  across,  as  a 
bridge  between  "  the  two  worlds,"  till  it  joins 
and  is  merged  into  the  heavenly  Rita,  and  both  to- 
gether form  "  the  broad  and  ancient  path  which 
leads  to  the  one  goal  " — the  path  along  which  Sarama 
took  Indra  and  the  singing  Angiras,'  and  another 
"  broad  path "  appears — the  broad  path  of  the 
heavenly  daksJiind — the  rich  gifts  (light,  rain,  and 
all  the  regularly  recurring  beneficent  phenomena) 
with  which  the  "  liberality  "  of  the  Devas  rewards  the 
sacrificing  of  men,  as  the  earthly  dakshind  is  the  re- 
ward conferred  on  the  officiating  priests  by  the  "lib- 
erality "  of  their  patrons,  whether  royal  or  private. 
9.  That  such  compelling  power  is  really  ascribed 
*  See  pp.  256-261. 


394  VEDIC  INDIA. 

to  the  ritualistically  perfect  sacrifice,  is  proved  by 
texts  so  explicit  and  numerous,  that  the  only  diffi- 
culty is  that  of  selection.  Within  our  limits,  two  or 
three  must  do.  They  do  not  leave  room  for  much 
doubt.  The  first  is  taken  from  an  elaborate  rain- 
hymn  (X.,  98),  by  a  Rishi  of  the  name  of  Devapi. 
He  begins  by  invoking  Brihaspati,  the  "  Lord  of 
Prayer,"  and  imploring  him  to  inspire  him  and 
"  place  in  his  mouth  "  "a  strong  unfailing  hymn,  to 
procure  rain  "  for  Shantanu,  his  patron.  Brihaspati 
personally  responds  to  the  appeal : 

"  The  honeyed  drops  shall  fall  from  heaven  ;  Indra,  bring  us  a 
thousand  wagon  loads.  Devapi,  officiate  as  hotar ;  sacrifice  at  the 
right  time  and  honor  the  gods  v^'ith  an  oblation." 

Now  for  the  result : 

"  The  Rishi  Devapi,  son  of  Rishtishena,  having  undertaken  the 
office  of  hotar,  found  favor  before  the  gods  :  he  poured  the  heavenly 
waters  from  the  upper  sea  down  into  the  lower.  The  waters  were 
detained  by  the  gods  in  that  upper  sea  ;  they  flowed  down,  let  loose 
by  Devapi.  .  .  .  Brihaspati  gave  the  efficient  rain-prayer  to  the 
Rishi." 

In  I.,  88,  the  Maruts  are  entreated  to  come  on  their 
"lightning-laden,  shining  chariots,"  drawn  by  steeds 
fleet  as  birds,  and  making  the  earth  resound  with  the 
noise  of  their  wheels.  "  Through  many  days  "  the 
Rishi  then  says,  "  the  anxious  ones  repeated  this 
prayer  addressed  to  you  and  plied  the  rain-compelling 
sacrifice ;  by  their  prayers,  by  their  hymns,  the 
Gotamas  upset  the  water-vat,  to  drink."  A  bold 
figure,  but  perfectly  intelligible  and  thoroughly 
Vedic.     We  find  it  again,  slightly  altered  and  de- 


SACRIFICE.  395 

veloped,  in  another  rain-hymn,  X.,  loi.     The  vat  or 
barrel  has  become  a  well : 

"  Prepare  the  buckets,  pull  the  thongs  [used  as  ropes,  to  lower  and 
raise  the  buckets]  ;  let  us  empty  the  water-abounding,  exhaustless 
well !  *  The  well  with  well-made  thongs  and  buckets,  the  water- 
abounding,  exhaustless,  I  now  am  emptying." 

Of  course  knowledge,  great  and  varied,  is  required 
to  make  the  prayer  and  sacrifice  efficient."  The  least 
omission  or  error  would  be  fatal.  For,  sacrifice  being 
an  imitation  or  reproduction  of  the  celestial  drama, 
it  must  run  as  smoothly,  be  as  free  from  blemish. 
A  hitch  or  blunder  in  the  sacrificial  rita  must  pro- 
duce a  corresponding  disturbance  in  the  heavenly 
Rita  or  even  course  of  the  Cosmic  Order,  and  the 
safety  of  the  universe  is  endangered.  This  is  what 
is  meant  by  the  constant  allusions  to  "  knowledge," 
the  great  value  of  "  knowledge,"  to  "  the  wise,"  those 
"who  know,"  by  "the  right  path,"  on  which  the 
gods  (especially  Agni  and  Soma,  the  two  "  Kings  of 
Sacrifice")  are  entreated  to  maintain  their  worship- 
pers. Hence  also  the  great  danger  for  laymen  of 
meddling  with  such  things.  It  is  said:  "The  igno- 
rant has  enquired  of  him  who  knows;  being  instructed 
by  him  who  knows,  he  acts.  And  this  is  the  good  of 
instruction  :  he  obtains  [literally  '  finds  ']  the  flow  of 

'  Slightly  contradictory.  But  Vedic  metaphor  must  not  be  held 
quite  to  modern  rhetorical  standards. 

^  Prayer  and  sacrifice  always  go  together  :  yajna  and  brahma  ;  and 
when  sacrifice  alone  is  mentioned,  prayer  is  implied.  "  Sacrifice 
without  prayer  {abrahind  yajnah)  is  said  not  to  be  pleasing  to  the 
gods  ;  even  Soma  pressed  without  prayers  (abrahtndno)  leaves  Indra 
indifferent.     (VII.,  26,  i.) 


396  VEDIC  INDIA. 

the  rushing  ones  [the  Waters]."  '  All  these  premises 
being  accepted,  we  shall  scarcely  be  inclined  to  dis- 
pute the  assertion,  that  only  tJiat  king  rules  prosper- 
ously in  his  own  country,  obeyed  by  his  subjects, 
and  irresistibly  wins  his  enemies'  treasures  and  also 
those  of  his  own  people  (characteristic,  this !),  before 
whom  walks  2i  piirohita. 

10.  We  see  now  why  the  ancient  Fathers,  the 
first  sacrificers — /.  e.,  the  inventors  of  sacrifice — are 
held  in  such  high  honor,  rank  as  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
the  equals  of  the  gods,  are  credited  with  so  many  cos- 
mic functions, — nay,  are  said  to  have  actively  assisted 
in  the  work  of  creation  itself.  (See  pp.  364-365). 
Sacrifice  was  their  work  of  art,  the  richly  patterned 
web,  the  endless  chain  or  warp, — one  end  of  which 
they  hold,  in  their  high  place  in  the  abodes  of  eter- 
nal light,  while  the  other  descends  unbroken  down 
to  earth,  held  firmly  by  "  those  who  know,"  and  add, 
thread  by  thread,  to  the  woof.  Each  maiitra  recited, 
each  sdnia7i  sung,  each  sacrificial  rite  accomplished, 
is  such  a  thread.  And  still  the  tissue  grows,  and 
still  the  pattern  spreads,  resplendent  and  many- 
colored,  and  the  sacrificial  shuttle  is  never  still. 

11.  If  the  terrestrial  sacrifice  is  a  reproduction  of 
the  celestial  phenomena  on  which  hinges  the  exist- 
ence of  the  world, — in  mythical  phrase  the  "  finding 
of  Agni  and  Soma  " — and  thereby  influences  them 
and  helps  produce  them,  the  question  quite  logically 
presents  itself  :  "  And  what  produces  them  up 
there  ?  "  and  it  is  no  less  good  logic  (mythical  logic) 
to  reply :  "  Celestial  sacrifice  of  course."    Somebody 

'  A.  Bergaigne's  rendering,  La  Religion  Vedigue,  i.,  p.  137. 


SACRIFICE.  397 

sacrifices  in  heaven,  to  accomplish  the  same  results 
that  we  strive  for — and  attain — by  sacrificing  here  on 
earth.  Forthwith  the  mental  process  is  reversed. 
The  entire  universe  becomes  a  huge  place  of  sacrifice 
and  every  act  of  the  great  heavenly  and  atmospheric 
drama  is  strained  so  as  to  make  it  the  parallel  of  a 
corresponding  act  in  the  sacrificial  drama  on  earth. 
Agni,  as  the  Sun,  is  the  offspring  of  the  golden  arani 
manipulated  by  the  Ashvins  ;  Agni's  blazing  log 
burns  brightly  in  the  sky;  the  sea  of  light  out  of 
which  he  rises  in  the  East  is  the  ^/;rr  (clarified  butter) 
made  of  the  golden  milk  of  the  dawn-cows,  which 
feeds  the  flame  on  the  altar  and  makes  it  leap  and 
soar ;  the  pillars  of  light  that  rise  straight  out  of  the 
darkness  at  daybreak  are  the  sacrificial  posts ;  the 
slanting  rays,  so  visible  before  the  sun  is  yet  in  full 
splendor,  are  the  sacrificial  grass  with  which  is 
strewn  the  vedi,  the  seat  of  the  gods,  which  is  the 
great  orient  East  itself.  As  Lightning,  Agni  is  found 
in  the  celestial  ocean,  is  drawn  from  the  motherly 
waters  by  "  the  ten  fingers  "  of  heavenly  sacrificers  ; 
is  struck  out  of  the  rock  (the  black  thundercloud). 
The  storm-drama  can  easily  be  converted  into  a 
celestial  Soma-sacrifice,  simply  by  reversing  the  sym- 
bolism of  the  terrestrial  Soma-sacrifice.  This  is  done 
all  through  Book  IX.  of  the  Rig-Veda  (the  Soma 
book)  till  at  times  one  is  puzzled  to  know  whether 
one  is  in  the  sky  or  on  earth.  Soma  is  the  divine 
race-horse  sent  out  "  to  win  the  prize  "  ;  the  "  sisters  " 
or  "  maidens  "  are  the  waters  which  fondle  him  as  the 
ten  fingers  the  stem  of  the  plant  ;  the  voices  of  the 
storm — thunder  and  the  singing  of  the  Maruts  or 


39^  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Angiras — are  the  hymns  and  the  noise  of  the  grind- 
ing-stones ;  the  sky  is  the  filter  or  sieve  ;  the  sainu- 
dra  is  the  kettle  where  the  divine  drink  is  mixed  ; 
earth  is  the  receiving  vat ;  the  atmosphere  is  the  space 
between  the  sieve  and  the  vat ;  the  heavenly  cows 
whose  lordly  Bull  Soma  is,  are  the  added  draughts  of 
milk.  And  Agni  (as  Lightning)  is  the  hotar,  the  ofifi- 
ciating  priest,  the  wise  conductor  of  the  sacrifice.  In 
a  word,  as  has  been  well  and  pithily  said — "  the  whole 
ritual  of  sacrifice,  with  all  its  offerings  and  appur- 
tenances, its  priests  and  offerings,  is  bodily  translated 
from  the  sphere  of  human  action  to  the  world  of  the 
gods."  * 

12.  The  next  question  in  our  mythical  Catechism 
is  "  Who  are  the  celestial  Sacrificers  ?  "  One  answer 
is  so  obvious  as  to  suggest  itself :  The  ancient 
Fathers,  the  sainted  Pitris — the  progenitors  of  the 
illustrious  priestly  races,  and,  as  tradition  often  has 
it,  of  the  human  (or  at  least  Aryan)  race  generally. 
This  suits  admirably  with  their  semi-divine  nature  : 
inventors  or  "  finders"  of  Sacrifice  "  up  there,"  who 
transmitted  their  knowledge  and  power,  like  a 
precious  milch-cow,  to  their  descendants  on  earth. 
Of  the  many  texts  which  convey  this  conception  the 
most  uncompromisingly  decisive  is  the  short  hymn 
X.,  i8i,  which 

"  tells  not  only  that  Vasishtlia,  Bharadvaja,  a  troop  of  ancient  sac- 
rificers, who  are  not  named,  brought  or  received  from  the  sky,  from 
the  Sun,  from  the  Creator's  luminous  abode,  from  Savitar,  from  Vish- 
nu, this  or  that  oblation,  this  or  that  particular  prayer,  but  that  they 
'  found  the  supreme  essence  of  sacrifice  which  at  first  was  out  of 

*  H.  W.  Wallis,  The  Cosmology  of  the  Rig-  Veda,  p.  79. 


SACRIFICE.  ■         399 

their  reach  and  hidden  *  (verse  2),  that  they  '  found  by  prayer  the 
fallen  sacrifice,  the  first  sacrifice  which  went  to  the  gods.'  That  is 
the  word:  fallen.  Like  fire,  sacrifice  has  fallen,  dropped  down  from 
heaven,  and  men  only  send  it  back  there,  as  fire  is  sent  back  to 
heaven."  ■ 

Celestial  sacrifice,  then,  is  the  model,  terrestrial 
sacrifice  the  copy.  There  is  more  than  imitation  ; 
there  is  absolute  identity,  since  the  two  chief  ele- 
ments are  the  same^Agni  and  Soma,  in  their  ter- 
restrial forms.  That  is  why  the  power,  the  effects 
are  the  same.  Here  is  a  fine  text  in  point :  "  As 
thou,  O  Agni,  didst  perform  the  office  of  Jiotar  on 
earth  ;  as  thou,  O  Jatavedas,  didst  perform  the  office 
of  hotar  in  heaven, — so,  with  this  oblation,  honor 
the  gods, — make  our  sacrifice  successful  this  day  as 
thou  didst  make  that  of  Manu."  (We  know  that 
Manu's  sacrifice  after  the  Flood  resulted  in  re-peo- 
pling the  earth.     See  pp.  337,  339.) 

13.  But,  as  we  go  through  the  Rig-Veda,  picking 
out  and  sorting  the  texts  that  bear  on  Celestial  Sac- 
rifice, we  find  that  it  is  not  only  the  ancient  Fathers 
who  are  actors  in  it,  but  quite  as  often  the  gods  tJiem- 
selvcs.  The  result  is  always  the  same,  of  course ; 
they  "  find  "  Agni  and  immediately  institute  him 
their  hotar  and  pnroJiita,  (themselves  becoming  the 
rich  patrons — yajajudndh — for  whose  benefit  the  sac- 
rifice is  performed),  whether  in  his  atmospheric  form 
as  Lightning,  or  in  his  heavenly  form  as  Sun, — for 
Surya  is  expressly  called  the  purohita  of  the  gods 
(VIII. ,  90,  19).  "  Mitra  and  Varuna,"  one  poet  tells 
us,  "  and   all  the   Maruts,  O  mighty  Agni,   sang  a 

*  A.  Bergaigne,  vol.  i.,  pp.  107  _/. 


400  VEDIC  INDIA. 

hymn  to  thee,  when  thou  didst  rise,  O  Surya,  above 
the  races  of  men."  '  This  is  clear  ;  scarcely  less  so  is 
the  following:  "Three  thousand  three  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  gods  did  homage  to  Agni ;  they  fed  him 
on  ghee,  they  spread  out  for  him  the  sacred  grass, 
and  instituted  him  hoiar."  Another  result  of  the 
god's  sacrificing  is  the  sending  of  Agni  dozvn  to  earth 
for  at  the  same  time  that  they  make  him  their  priest, 
they  also  make  him  "  their  messenger "  (another 
form  of  the  **  Descent  of  Fire  ").  There  is  a  hymn 
(X.,  88)  which  describes  in  most  of  its  verses  the  sac- 
rifice performed  by  the  gods.  "  The  world  was  hid- 
den, swallowed  in  darkness."  The  gods  sacrificed, 
and  Agni  was  born  ;  there  was  joy  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  as  he  covered  with  his  splendor  the  two  worlds 
and  the  atmosphere.  Into  "  this  Agni  "  (the  fire  lit 
in  heaven)  the  wise,  holy  gods  poured  libations,  sing, 
ing  hymns — then  they  divided  him  into  three  parts 
or  forms,  and  placed  one  as  Sun  in  the  sky — to 
"  travel  forever  inextinguishable  and  shine  day  by 
day."  The  hymn  is  long  and  elaborately  mystical ; 
but  this  is  the  substance  of  it. 

14.  But  to  whom  is  the  celestial  sacrifice  offered  ? 
That  is  a  question  which  does  not  seem  easy  to 
answer.  As  regards  the  Fathers,  the  matter  is  simple 
enough :  they  sacrifice  to  the  gods,  of  course.  But 
to  whom  can  the  gods  sacrifice?  Two  texts  (both 
late)  contain  the  answer.  One  is  worded  in  general 
terms,  the  other  is  explicit.  The  former  (X.,  90,  16) 
says  that  "  the  Devas  having,  by  sacrifice,  earned 
their  right  to  sacrifice,  attained  to  the  highest  heaven, 

'  III.,  14,  4.     Bergaigne's  rendering,  vol.  i.,  p.  115. 


SACRIFICE.  401 

where  the  ancient  gods  are."  The  second  text  (X., 
151,  3)  occurs  in  the  hymn  to  Shraddha  (Faith): — 
"As  the  Devas  worshipped  with  faith  the  mighty 
Asuras  .  .  ."  The  "  gods,"  therefore — the  Devas 
— sacrifice  to  the  "  Ancient  gods  " — the  Asuras — 
Dyaus,  and  Vkruna,  and  probably  Rudra,  Tvashtar, 
Parjanya  ;  the  younger,  Indo-Aryan  gods  to  the 
mighty  primeval-Aryan  deities,  whose  rule  is  su- 
preme, whose  abode  is  the  highest,  and  whom,  in 
the  end,  they  supplant — or  nearly  so.' 

15.  Transcendental  symbolism  could  take  only  one 
step  more — and  took  it.  There  is  a  certain  number 
of  hymns  addressed,  not  to  one  particular  deity,  but 
to  many,  or  to  all,  collectively  {vishvcdevdh).  ■  Of 
these  X.,  65  is  particularly  fine,  because  it  invokes 
all  the  great  nature-gods  by  name,  with  a  brief 
mention  of  their  attributes  and  functions.  It  is  a 
masterly  epitome  of  Vedic  mythology.  It  has  the 
following  astonishing  verse: 

"  Drinking  with  Agni's  tongue,  heavenly,  pure  in  mind,  they  sit  by 
the  centre  of  the  sanctuary.  They  powerfully  supported  the  heavens, 
they  poured  down  the  waters.  Having  invented  [literally  'begotten'] 
the  sacrifice,  they  offered  it  to  themselves." 

Other  texts  might  be  adduced,  pointing   to  the 

'  Bergaigne  suggests  that  this  may  have  had  something  to  do  with 
the  transformation  which  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  Asura"  under- 
went. A  subtle  feeling  of  hostility  crept  into  and  pervaded  the  atti- 
tude of  the  followers  of  the  second,  Indo-Aryan,  towards  the 
few  grand  and  particularly  awful  deities  of  the  first,  Proto-Aryan, 
dispensation,  and  by  the  usual  process,  that  feeling  was  transferred  to 
those  deities,  and  a  certain  unfriendliness,  even  malignity,  ascribed 
to  them.     The  Greek  theogony  presents  a  parallel  case. 


./ 


402  VEDIC  INDIA. 

same  conception,'  but  they  are  not  considered  very 
clear  and  readings  vary  somewhat.  This  one,  how- 
ever, does  not  seem  to  be  doubtful.  We  are  so  used 
to  the  idea  of  sacrifice  being  an  offering  tendered  to 
higher  beings  in  thanksgiving  or  supplication,  that 
our  mind  at  first  refuses  to  grasp  what  seems  so  utter 
an  absurdity  as  these  same  higher  beings  sacrificing 
to  themselves.  A  bit  of  etymology  may  help  us.  If 
we  take  the  word  "  sacrifice  "  in  its  literal  Latin 
sense — that  of  "  sacred  action,"  not  "  offering  "  in 
particular,  "  oblation  "  being  the  proper  word  for 
that — the  strange  paradox  will  assume  a  somewhat 
different  aspect.  Celestial  sacrifice,  as  a  "  sacred 
action,"  performed  by  the  gods  to  "  delight  them- 
selves," presents  nothing  absurd  or  incomprehensible. 
This  is  about  as  far,  however,  as  mythical  meta- 
physics can  go, — and,  having  got  so  far,  perhaps  we 
too  have  found  the  "  supreme  essence  "  of  Aryan 
sacrifice  "  in  the  highest  heaven." 

1 6.  After  the  spirit,  the  letter  ;  which  means  in 
this  case  the  actual  forms  and  rites  of  the  terrestrial 
sacrifice.  On  this  all-important  feature  of  Aryan 
India,  which  Brahmanism  developed  to  such  unheard- 
of  proportions,  we  can  gather  but  little  technical  in- 
formation in  the  Rig-Veda  ;  for  that  we  must  go  to 
the  Brahmanas  and  the  Sutras.  The  pressing  of  the 
Soma,  indeed,  is  abundantly  described  and  illustrated 
in  the  Rig.  But  the  great  Soma-sacrifice  of  the 
classical  and  epic  period,  though  not  more  holy  in 
essence,  was,  in  practice,  a  very  different  affair:  re- 
quiring preparations  on  an  immense  scale,  taking  up 
»  VI.,  II,  2;  X.,  81  ;  X.,  7,  6. 


SACRIFICE.  403 

many  days  with  introductory  rites  and  attendant 
ceremonies,  and  giving  occupation  to  numbers  of 
priests  going  into  the  hundreds,  all  of  whom  ex- 
pected— and  received — ample  dakshind ;  so  costly, 
in  fact,  as  to  be  beyond  the  means  of  private  devo- 
tion, and  reserved  for  the  most  imposing  public 
occasions,  such  as  (and  especially)  the  inauguration 
of  a  King  or  the  celebration  of  a  great  victory.  On 
such  occasions  it  was  very  frequently  preceded  by 
the  Horse-sacrifice  {ashvaviedJid),  the  distinctively 
royal  sacrifice,  which  could  be  performed  also  by 
itself,  usually  by  kings  desirous  of  offspring.  Epic 
poetry  will,  in  due  time,  furnish  us  with  gorgeous 
and  most  detailed  descriptions  of  this  gigantic 
pageant.  For  the  present  we  must  be  content  with 
such  information  as  we  can  find  in  the  Rig-Samhita. 
And  that  in  truth  is  unexpectedly  complete,  once 
again  bringing  before  us  a  stage  of  ritualism  and 
symbolism  strangely  at  variance  with  the  long-alleged 
"  simplicity  "  of  religious  conception  and  worship  in 
the  Rig-Veda.  This  information  is  contained  in  two 
hymns  (I.,  162  and  163)  which  celebrate  the  sacrificial 
Horse,  now  describing  with  almost  repulsive  realism 
the  actual  slaughter  and  burning  of  the  victim,  now 
divinizing  him  in  mystic  strains  which  leave  one  in 
doubt  whether  it  is  an  animal  that  is  spoken  of,  or 
himself.  Soma  the  King. — This  assimilation,  one 
might  almost  say  identification,  is  certainly  inten- 
tional, carrying  out  the  idea  of  the  reproduction  of 
heavenly  things  on  earth.  For  Agni  (both  as  Light- 
ning and  as  Sun)  and  Soma  are,  as  we  have  seen,  the 
heavenly  coursers,  and  the  horse  on  earth  is  their 


404 


VEDIC  INDIA 


representative,  their  symbol,  and  when  specially  de- 
voted to  them,  becomes  one  with  them — "  goes  to 
them"  in  death.  Indeed  he  is  of  their  race — devajdta. 
Therefore  he   is  said    to    have    "  three   forms,"  his 


... 


^''\     ^ 


-    I      t    1      I        sl/zf.     )\ijt      \'k\-      ill,       %>       1^ 


a    u     u     u 


\'  ("''''if         »      f   i 


34. — PART    OF     A     HORSE-SACRIFICE     PROCESSION    (lATE    WALL 

sculpture). 

"  highest  birthplace "  is  with  Varuna,  his  winged 
head  "  speeds  snorting  along  the  easy,  dustless  paths 
of  heaven."  Winged  is  his  body,  his  spirit  pervading 
as  the  wind.     And  immediately  after  this: 


SACRIFICE.  405 

"  The  fleet  courser  is  proceeding  towards  the  place  of  slaughter,  his 
spirit  intently  fixed  on  the  gods.  The  goat  precedes  him,  the  wise 
singers  follow.  The  courser  is  proceeding  towards  the  most  glorious 
of  abodes,  to  the  Father  and  the  Mother"  (probably  Dyaus-Heaven 
and  Aditi,  for  he  is  once  called  an  Aditya)  ;  "  for  even  this  day 
will  he  go  to  the  gods,  most  welcome  to  them.     .     .     ." 

The  description  of  the  actual  sacrifice  is  given  with 
such  completeness  in  I.,  162,  that  it  will  serve  our 
purpose  almost  without  any  commentary  : 

".  .  .  When  they  lead  by  the  bridle  the  richly  adorned  courser, 
the  omniform  goat  \z<ish7'ari'ipa\  is  led,  bleating,  before  him.  .  .  . 
Piishan's  allotted  share  ;  he  will  be  welcomed  by  all  the  gods.  .  .  . 
Tvashtar  will  conduct  him  to  high  honors.  When  men  lead  the 
horse,  according  to  custom,  three  times  around  [the  place  of  sacrifice], 
the  goat  goes  before  [and  is  killed  first]  to  announce  the  sacrifice  to 
the  gods.^  The  priest,  the  assistant,  the  carver  [who  is  to  divide  the 
carcass],  he  who  lights  the  fire,  he  who  works  the  pressing-stones, 
and  the  inspired  singer  of  hymns — will  all  fill  their  bellies  with  the 
ilesh  of  this  well-prepared  offering.  Those  who  fashion  the  post  [to 
which  the  victim  is  to  be  bound],  and  those  who  bring  it,  and  those 
who  fashion  the  knob  on  top  of  it,  and  those  who  bring  together  the 
cooking  vessels — may  their  friendly  help  also  not  be  wanting.  The 
sleek  courser  is  now  proceeding — my  prayer  goes  with  him — to  the 
abodes  of  the  gods,  followed  by  the  joyful  songs  of  the  priests  ;  this 
banquet  makes  him  one  with  the  gods." 

Here  follows  a  sort  of  litany,  long  and  tedious,  but 
very  curious,  in  which  all  that  is  the  horse's  own, 
even  to  the  particles  of  his  flesh  that  may  adhere  to 
the  post,  or  the  axe,  or  the  nails  of  the  sacrificing 

'  The  goat  is  always  Pushan's  "  allotted  share  "  at  sacrifices  ;  the 
same  at  funerals.  (A  funeral  is  a  sort  of  a  sacrifice,  for  the  dead  man 
is  "offered"  to  Agni  and  by  him  conveyed  to  the  gods,  like  any 
other  off'ering).  This  is  why  a  goat  is  harnessed  to  Pushan's  chariot, 
quite    as  much  as  on  account  of  his  rustic  functions  and  character. 


406  VEDIC  INDIA. 

priest,  and  the  fat  that  may  drop  from  the  pieces 
of  flesh,  roasting  on  the  spit — is  bid  follow  him  and 
be  "his  own  among  the  gods";  the  same  with  any- 
thing that  has  ever  been  used  by  him  or  for  him — 
his  halter  and  blanket,  his  trappings  and  accoutre- 
ments ;  all  the  grass  he  ever  ate,  or  stepped  or  lay  or 
rolled  on  ;  all  the  vessels  and  implements  and  dishes 
that  are  going  to  be  used  to  dress  and  cook  and 
serve  his  flesh.  This  consecration  is  accompanied 
with  the  rather  idle  wish  that  nothing  that  will  be 
done  to  him  may  cause  him  pain — neither  the  fire, 
nor  the  smoke,  nor  the  seething  pot ;  and  the  hymn 
ends  as  mystically  as  it  began : 

"  May  not  thy  breath  of  life  oppress  thee  when  thou  goest  to  the 
gods  ;  \i.  e.,  '  may  thy  death-struggle  be  brief  and  easy  '  ]  ;  may  not 
the  axe  injure  thy  bodies  ; '  may  not  a  hasty,  unskilled  carver,  blunder- 
ing in  his  work,  cleave  thy  limbs  wrongly.  Forsooth,  thou  diest  not 
here,  nor  dost  thou  suffer  any  injury  ;  no,  thou  goest  to  the  gods  along 
fair,  easy  paths  ;  the  two  kari/s  [Indra's]  and  the  dappled  deer  [the 
Maruts']  will  be  thy  comrades.     ..." 

17.  One  verse  (8)  of  I.,  163,  evidently  describes 
the  sacrificial  procession.  "After  thee,  O  Horse, 
comes  the  chariot ;  after  thee,  the  man  ;  after  thee 
the  hosts  of  the  girls.  .  .  ."  As  the  verse  ends  with 
the  statement  that  all  the  world  is  anxious  to  win 
the  Horse's  favor  and  that  the  gods  themselves 
recognize  his  "  heroic  might  "  (if  not  even  his 
superiority  in  heroic  might),  it  has  generally  been 
taken  mythically,  all  of  it ;  while  it  is  very  proba- 

'  Bergaigne  positively  reads  "  bodies"  in  the  plural,  and  interprets 
it  as  a  mystical  allusion  to  the  threefold  form  of  the  Agni-and-Soma- 
horse,  with  which  the  sacrificial  horse  was  identified,  as  seen  above. 


SACRIFICE. 


407 


ble  that  we  have  here  another  of  those  mixtures  of 
myth  and  reaUty  which  are  so  confusing  and  mis- 
leading. In  the  Horse-sacrifice  as  originally  insti- 
tuted, and  practised  too,  "  the  man  "  was  indeed  led 
after  the  horse,  as  the  goat  was  led  before  him,  and 
for  the  same  purpose — to  be  sacrificed.  For  there 
can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  human  sacrifices  were 
part  of  ancient  Aryan  worship.  As  shown  elsewhere,' 
certain  premises  being  accepted,  nothing  could  be 
more  logical,  necessary,  even  juster;  it  merely  meant 
going  the  whole  length,  and  it  is  hardly  probable 
that  any  race  missed  this  stage  of  cruel  logic,  when 
sentiment  is  not  yet  sufficiently  developed  to  stay 
the  hand  armed  by  what  is  mistaken  for  reason.  The 
Indo-Aryas  outdid  all  others  in  plain-speaking  con- 
sistency. They  openly  classed  man  among  ani- 
mals, counting  him  as  the  noblest  and  first,  but 
still  as  one  of  them,  primus  inter  pares,  as  has  been 
felicitously  remarked.  Sacrifice  was  of  two  kinds : 
bloody  and  bloodless.  Five  "animals"  are  declared 
fit  victims  for  the  former:  man,  the  horse,  the  steer, 
the  sheep,  and  the  goat.  At  a  solemn  sacrifice  all 
five  victims  are  to  be  immolated.  Vedic  rituals  of 
undoubted  authenticity — Shrauta-Sutras  and  texts 
in  the  Yajur  Veda,  all  Shruti  "revealed" — give  the 
most  detailed  instructions  as  to  the  occasions  of 
such  sacrifices  and  the  manner  of  them.  One  of 
these  occasions  was  the  building  of  city  walls,  when 
the  bodies  of  the  five  victims  were  to  be  laid  in  the 
water  used  to  mix  the  clay  for  the  bricks,  to  which 
their  blood  was  supposed  to  give  the  necessary  firm- 
*  See  Story  of  Assyria,  ch.  iv.,  especially  pp.  118-129. 


408  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ness — and  probably,  consecration.  Another  was  the 
Horse-sacrifice,  ashvamedha.  Then  there  was  the 
out-and-out  human  sacrifice — purusJiaincdJia — which 
ranks  still  higher,  and  for  which  the  victim  must  be  a 
Brahman  or  a  Kshatriya,  to  be  bought  for  a  thousand 
cows  and  a  hundred  horses.  An  intensified  form  of 
piinishamedha  is  that  in  which  a  large  number  of 
victims — 166  or  even  184 — men  of  all  sorts  and  con- 
ditions— are  immolated.  The  Shatapatha-Brahmana 
itself,  the  most  important  of  all,  describes  this  whole- 
sale slaughter-ceremony.  But  the  ritual  suddenly 
breaks  off  and  drops  into  narrative,  giving  us  the  fol- 
lowing legend:  "Then,  when  the  fire  had  already 
been  carried  around  the  victims  (all  bound  to  the 
several  sacrificial  posts)  and  they  were  just  about  to 
be  killed,  a  voice  was  heard  to  speak:  '  O  man,  do 
not  accomplish  it !  If  thou  didst  accomplish  it,  one 
man  would  eat  the  other.'  "  To  understand  this,  we 
must  remember  that  the  flesh  of  victims  was  partaken 
of  by  the  sacrificers.  It  is  therefore  probably — and 
nothing  could  be  more  natural — the  horror  of  canni- 
balism which  caused  the  frightful  practice  to  be 
abandoned,  at  the  cost  of  logical  inconsistency.  Sub- 
stitutes were  used  at  one  time,  such  as  golden  human 
heads.  Yet  the  custom  of  associating  a  human  victim 
with  the  horse  and  goat  in  the  ashvamedha,  seems  to 
have  persisted  for  a  while.  Only  it  is  prescribed  to 
buy  for  the  purpose  an  old,  decrepit,  infirm  leper, 
for  whom,  "  going  to  the  gods  "  could  be  only  a  most 
happy  release.  But  even  this  wretched  wreck  must 
belong  to  one  of  the  holiest  and  most  illustrious 
Rishi    families.      However,   the    dislike   of  spilling 


SACRIFICE.  409 

blood  and  taking  life  (unless  in  war)  which  became 
so  conspicuous  and  beautiful  a  feature  of  later  Brah- 
manism,  was  already  growing  on  the  Indo-Aryas, 
and  the  same  Brahmana — the  Shatapatha — formally 
declares  bloodless  offerings  to  be  more  acceptable 
and  fully  as  efificient,  as  usual,  in  the  form  of  a 
legend  or  parable  : 

"  The  gods  at  first  took  man  as  victim  [literally  'sacrificial 
animal.']  Then  the  sacrificial  virtue  \fnedha\  left  him  and  went  into 
the  horse.  They  took  the  horse,  but  the  medha  went  out  of  him  also 
and  into  the  steer.  Soon  it  went  from  the  steer  into  the  sheep,  from 
the  sheep  into  the  goat,  from  the  goat  into  the  earth.  Then  they  dug 
the  earth  up,  seeking  for  the  viedha  and  found  it  in  rice  and  barley. 
Therefore,  as  much  virtue  as  there  was  in  all  those  five  animals,  so 
much  there  now  is  in  this  sacrificial  cake  \Jiazns  made  of  rice  and 
barley],  i.  e.,  for  him  who  knows  this.  The  ground  grains  answer  to 
the  hair,  the  water  [with  which  the  meal  is  mixed]  to  the  skin,  the 
mixing  and  stirring  to  the  flesh,  the  hardened  cake  [in  the  baking]  to 
the  bones,  the  ghee  with  which  it  is  anointed  to  the  marrow.  So  the 
five  component  parts  of  the  animal  are  contained  in  the  havis. 

18.  Human  sacrifice  is  not  mentioned  in  so  many 
words  in  the  Rig-Veda  ;  but  it  is  alluded  to,  trans- 
parently, to  use  the  Vedic  phrase,  "  for  those  who 
know."  Not  only  in  verse  8  of  the  Horse  hymn, 
quoted  above,  but  more  undoubtedly  in  two  texts 
which  allude  to  the  rescue  of  one  Shunahshepha, 
an  adopted  son  of  the  Rishi  Vishvamitra: 

"  Bound  Shunahshepha  thou,  O  Agni,  didst  deliver  from  a  thou- 
sand posts  because  he  prayed  fervently  to  thee  ;  so  deliver  us,  too,  O 
shining /^(5/ar,  from  our  bonds. — (V. ,  27.) 

"  Varuna  the  king  will  deliver  us,  he  whom  the  captive  Shunah- 
shepha invoked  once  on  a  time.  For  Shunahshepha,  being  trebly 
bound  to  the  post,  called  out  to  the  Aditya. — (I.,  24,  12,  13.) 


4IO  VEDIC  INDIA. 

An  allusion  to  the  same  old  story  is  certainly  con- 
tained in  verse  2i  of  the  following  hymn,  I.,  25  : 
"  That  I  may  live,  take  from  me  the  upper  rope,  loose 
the  middle,  and  remove  the  lowest."  Indeed,  tradi- 
tion was  so  positive  on  the  point  that  it  ascribed 
both  these  hymns  to  Shunahshepha  himself.  This 
would  show  that  Vdruna's  "  threefold  fetters  or 
nooses  "  are  not  ahvays  the  allegorical  ones  of  dark- 
ness, sickness,  and  death,  but  like  most  of  the  Rig- 
Veda's  mysticism,  have  an  underlying  realistic 
meaning  to  them — very  realistic  in  this  case.  The 
story  itself  we  find  in  one  of  the  great  Brahmanas, 
possibly  the  oldest,  the  AlTAREYA,  which  belongs  to 
the  Rig-Veda,  and  therefore  was  bound  to  explain 
such  obscure  passages  and  allusions.  This  is  con- 
vincing evidence  of  the  fact  that  though  the  Brah- 
manas are  necessarily  later,  they  may  and  often  do 
contain  matter  older  than  the  Rig  itself.  For  what 
is  alluded  to  in  a  work  as  generally  known,  must 
have  existed  before  that  work  did.  The  following 
is  the  story  condensed.' 

19.  There  was  a  powerful  king,  Harishchandra, 
who  had  a  hundred  wives,  but  no  son.  By  the  ad- 
vice of  a  great  sage  who  lived  in  his  house,  he  went 
to  Varuna  the  King  and  said  :  "  May  a  son  be  born 
to  me,  and  I  shall  sacrifice  him  to  thee  !  "  Varuna 
said  "  Yes,"  and  a  boy  was  born  to  the  king  who 
named  him  ROHITA.  Varuna  soon  claimed  the  child. 
But  the  father  succeeded  in  obtaining  respite  after 
respite,  until  Rohita  grew  to  young  manhood,  and 

*  It  is  also  told  in  the  Ramayana  and  some  Puranas,  with  unessen- 
tial variations. 


SACRIFICE.  411 

was  girt  with  his  armor.  Then  Varuna  would  wait 
no  longer,  and  the  king  could  find  no  more  excuses. 
So  he  said  to  his  son  :  "  Child,  he  gave  thee  to 
me,  that  I  sacrifice  thee  to  him."  The  son  said 
"  No,"  took  his  bow,  and  went  to  the  forest,  where 
he  lived  for  a  year.  Then  Varuna  vented  his  anger 
on  the  king,  whom  he  afflicted  with  dropsy.  Rohita, 
meanwhile,  met  a  Brahman  on  his  wanderings,  who 
advised  him  to  travel.  It  was  Indra  in  human  form. 
"  The  fortune  of  a  man  who  sits,"  he  said,  "  sits  also. 
It  rises  when  he  rises,  sleeps  when  he  sleeps,  and 
moves  when  he  moves.  Travel  !  A  traveller  finds 
honey,  a  traveller  finds  sweet  figs.  Look  at  the 
happiness  of  the  sun,  who,  travelling,  never  tires. 
Travel !  "  Rohita  travelled  six  years,  at  the  end  of 
which  he  met  in  the  forest  a  starving  Rishi,  of  the  holy 
Angiras  race,  who  had  three  sons.  Rohita  said  to 
him :  "  Rishi,  I  give  thee  a  hundred  cows  ;  I  ransom 
myself  with  one  of  these  thy  sons."  The  father 
embraced  the  eldest  and  said  :  "  Not  him  !  "  The 
mother  embraced  the  youngest  and  said :  "  Not 
him  !  "  So  they  agreed  to  sell  Shunahshepha,  the 
middle  son.  And  Rohita  took  him  to  the  king,  who 
offered  him  to  Varuna  in  exchange  for  his  son.  Va- 
runa said  :  "  Yes ;  for  a  Brahman  is  better  than  a 
Kshatriya,"  and  ordered  the  king  to  prepare  a  great 
royal  sacrifice.  Shunahshepha  was  to  be  the  victim 
for  the  day  when  the  Soma  is  offered  to  the  gods. 
Vishvamitra  was  the  Jiotar  on  this  occasion.  But 
when  Shunahshepha  was  prepared,  they  could  get 
nobody  to  bind  him  to  the  sacrificial  post.  His  own 
father,  who  had  sold  him,  did  it  for  a  hundred  more 


412  VEDIC  INDIA. 

cows.  But  no  one  could  be  found  to  kill  him.  His 
father  declared  himself  willing  to  do  that  also  for 
still  a  hundred  more,  and  approached  his  son,  whet- 
ting his  knife.  Shunahshepha  thought :  "  They  will 
really  kill  me,  as  if  I  were  not  a  man.'  I  shall  pray 
to  the  gods."  He  prayed  to  them  all  in  succession, 
one  sending  him  on  to  another.  Ushas  came  last. 
While  he  prayed  to  her  his  fetters  were  loosed  and 
dropped  off  him,  and  the  king's  dropsy  left  him,  so 
he  was  well  again,  and  the  victim  that  was  to  have 
been  was  requested,  instead,  to  perform  the  sacri- 
fice of  the  day.  The  Rishi  now  claimed  his  son 
and  wanted  to  take  him  back  with  him.  But  Shu- 
nahshepha absolutely  refused  to  follow  him,  appeal- 
ing for  protection  to  Vishvamitra,  who  supported 
him,  saying  :  "  Dreadful  was  he  as  he  stood  with  his 
knife  ready  to  kill.  Be  not  his  son.  Come  and  be 
my  son,"  Shunahshepha  said  :  "  Tell  us  thyself,  O 
son  of  a  king,  how  I,  who  am  an  Angirasa,  shall  be- 
come thy  son."  *  Vishvamitra  replied  :  "  Thou  shalt 
be  the  eldest  of  my  sons,  thy  offspring  shall  be  the 
first  ;  thou  shalt  receive  the  heritage  which  the  gods 
have  given  me."  On  this  understanding  the  adop- 
tion took  place.  Vishvamitra  had  a  hundred  sons, 
fifty  of  whom  (the  elder  half)  rebelled  at  having  a 

'  On  such  occasions,  explains  the  commentator,  it  was  customary 
to  release  the  man  and  the  larger  animals  at  the  last  moment,  after 
their  purification  by  carrying  the  fire  around  them  (see  above,  the 
legend  from  the  Shatapatha),  and  only  the  sheep  and  the  goat  were 
killed.  Thus  was  sacrifice  commuted  into  consecration.  (See  Story 
of  Assyria^  pp.  121,  124.) 

^  Vishvamitra,  though  a  Brahman  in  dignity  and  a  Rishi,  was,  as 
we  know,  a  Rajana  by  birth. 


I 


SACRIFICE.  413 

stranger  placed  over  them.  Their  father  cursed 
them,  and  they  went  forth  as  outcasts,  they  and 
their  descendants  becoming  the  worst  of  Dasyus. 
The  other  fifty  cheerfully  submitted,  and,  receiving 
their  father's  blessing,  lived  happy  and  prosperous.' 
20.  It  is  very  easy  to  disentangle  the  kernel  of  this 
story  from  the  Brahmanic  additions  and  flourishes, 
which,  however,  for  once  do  not  mar  it.  Disapproval 
shows  from  every  line,  and  we  are  allowed  to  infer 
that  already  at  a  very  early  period  this  most  awful 
of  all  sacred  rites  was  only  simulated  in  the  perform- 
ance, instead  of  being  carried  out  to  the  bitter  end. 
But  that  very  disapproval  is  manifestly  a  protest 
against  something  that  really  existed,  and  we  cannot 
exonerate  our  Aryan  ancestors  from  the  blot  which 
appears  to  rest  on  all  races — that  of  having,  at  some 
time,  practised  the  abomination  of  human  sacrifices. 

^  See  Max  Miiiler,  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  pp.  408-419. 


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CHAPTER   XI. 

THE    RIG-VEDA  :    COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY. — 
RETROSPECT. 

I.  Of  the  many  fleeting  moods  which  waft  a  fra- 
grance of  true  poetry  from  the  too  often  barren,  or 
— worse  still — weed-ridden  garden-beds  of  the  Rig- 
Veda,  there  is  undoubtedly  none  that  interests  us 
and  appeals  to  us  more  than  the  questioning  mood, 
which  now  and  then,  quite  rarely,  breaks  out  in  un- 
expected places — the  bud  of  choicest  promise  on  the 
tender  yet  already  vigorous  plant  of  earnest  human 
thought,  as  distinguished  from  mere  imaginative 
speculation,  great  as  is  the  charm  of  the  latter. 
When  those  old  Rishis  (who,  personally,  may  not 
have  been  old  when  they  thought  and  sang  !),  when 
they  pause  in  the  midst  of  an  invocation,  a  hymn  of 
praise,  to  ask  wonderingly,  sincerely,  "  Where  is  the 
sun  by  night?"  "Where  go  the  stars  by  day?" 
"  Why  does  the  sun,  being  neither  supported  nor 
fastened  to  anything,  not  fall  down  ?  "  "  Of  the  two 
— Night  and  Day — which  is  the  elder,  which  the 
younger?"  "Whence  comes  the  wind  and  whither 
goes  it?"  and  "  how  is  it  that  it  raises  no  dust  on 
the  paths  of  heaven?  nor  the  chariot  of  the  sun 
-    414 


COSMOGON  Y. — PHIL  OSOPH  Y.  4 1 5 

either  ?  " — we  are  overcome  by  a  feeling  as  of  awe, 
tender  and  pathetic,  as  when  we  hear  the  first  ear- 
nest questions  (very  much  the  same,  too  !)  from  the 
lips  of  our  children  in  the  midst  of  their  amusing 
prattle,  and  mark  the  widely  opening  eyes  with  the 
first  sharp  gleam  of  the  spirit  life  in  them,  as  each  in 
turn  reaches  out  feeble  but  longing  hands,  instinc- 
tively groping  for  the  fruit  of  the  tree  of  knowledge, 
with  no  dimmest  perception  of  either  its  sweetness 
or  its  bitterness,  its  blessings  or  dangers.  For  the 
spirit  that  has  once  queried  so  is  awake  and  will 
never  be  laid  to  sleep  again  ;  it  has  started  out  of 
the  repose  of  latent  into  the  activity  of  conscious  life, 
and  has  grappled  the  universal  problem  it  is  to 
wrestle  with  to  the  end  and  do  its  share  to  solve  : 
the  separation  of  that  which  may  become  known 
from  that  which  never  can  be. 

2.  It  is  peculiar  that  the  direct  question  is  never 
asked  :  "  WJio  made  the  world  " — or  worlds — but 
only  lioiv  it  was  made  :  how  "  they  "  made  it,  or — in 
the  latest  stage,  when  philosophical  abstraction  has 
reached  the  conception  of  one  creator  (a  dhdtar,  a 
prajdpati,  a  vishvakarmaii) — how  he  made  it, — and 
oiit  of  ivhat.  This  particular  question  fully  thought 
out  and  adequately  worded,  we  encounter  in  two 
speculative  hymns,  of  Book  X.,  addressed  one  to 
"  all  the  gods  "  {inshvedevdJi),  and  again  to  Vishvakar- 
man,  "  the  artificer,  or  fashioner,  of  the  universe." 

"  What  indeed  was  the  wood,  what  the  tree,  out  of  which  they 
fashioned  [after  the  manner  of  carpenters]  the  heaven  and  the  earth  ? 
these  two  stand  fast  and  grow  not  old  forever,  while  many  days  and 
mornings  pass  away."     (X.,  31,  7.) 


4l6  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"What  was  the  standing-place,  what  the  stable  support,  the  posi- 
tion, and  how  was  it,  from  which  Vishvakarman,  the  all-seeing,  pro- 
duced the  earth  and  disclosed  the  heaven  by  his  might?  .  .  . 
What  indeed  was  the  wood,  what  the  tree  out  of  which  they  fash- 
ioned the  earth  and  the  heaven  ?  Inquire,  ye  wise  ones,  with  your 
minds,  what  it  was  on  which  he  took  his  stand  when  he  made  fast  the 
world."     (X.,  8r,  2  and 4.) 

These  verses  are  found  in  the  Yajur-Veda  also, 
and  one  of  its  commentaries,  the  Taittiriya-Brahmana 
answers  the  question  thus : 

'  Brahma  [neuter]  was  the  wood,  Brahma  was  that  tree  out  of 
which  they  fashioned  the  heaven  and  the  earth.  Wise  ones,  with 
my  mind  I  declare  unto  you,  he  took  his  stand  on  Brahma  when  he 
made  fast  the  world." 

Perhaps  as  good  an  answer  as  the  subject  will  ad- 
mit, at  this  transition  stage  from  Vedic  naturalism 
to  the  spiritualism  and  pantheism  of  the  Upanishads, 
— the  stage  when  the  Brahma  is  already  felt  as  the 
universally  present,  latent  life  and  force,  which,  mani- 
fested, becomes  both  matter  in  its  tangible  form  and 
spirit  in  its  active  working,  but  not  yet  as  the  One, 
self-existing  Soul  of  the  All  and  Creator  of  the 
Worlds. 

3.  Like  all  the  phases  of  thought  recorded  in  the 
Rig-Veda,  the  ideas  on  the  making  of  the  world  pass 
before  our  eyes  through  several  progressive  stages,  the 
first  and  simplest  of  which  is  well  represented  by  this 
statement  in  one  of  the  Vasishtha  hymns:  "  Vkruna 
stemmed  asunder  the  wide  firmaments ;  he  lifted  on 
high  the  bright  and  glorious  heaven  ;  he  stretched 
out  apart  the  starry  sky  and  the  earth  "  (VII.,  86,  1). 
The  same  things  are  said  of  other  gods  also.      But 


CO  SMOG  ON  Y. — PHIL  OSOPH  V.  4 1 7 

when  it  comes  to  details,  three  distinct  conceptions 
crystallize  out  of  hundreds  of  texts  bearing  on  the 
subject :  (i)  the  gods  dui/t  the  world,  carpenter-fash- 
ion, as  the  Aryas  built  their  houses ;  (2)  the  gods — this 
or  that  couple,  especially  Heaven  and  Earth  or  the 
gods  generally — o^ave  birtJi  to  the  world,  after  the 
manner  of  living  beings  ;  (3)  the  world  was  created 
through  Sacrifice,  as  by  Sacrifice  it  is  kept  going. 
The  first  of  these  conceptions  may  be  classed  almost 
entirely  under  poetical  imagery  ;  the  second,  in  great 
part,  with  an  evident  but  rather  clumsy  flight  into 
symbolism  ;  while  the  third,  purely  theological,  soars 
into  almost  unattainable  regions  of  abstruse  mysti- 
cism.' Although  the  progression  from  simple  to 
complicated  is  manifest,  and  such  a  progression  im- 
plies progress  and  evolution,  implying  in  their  turn 
a  vast  period  of  time,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
transition  from  step  to  step  can  be  followed,  much 
less  chronologically  classified.  There  is  no  method 
in  the  presentation  of  the  three  conceptions ;  they 
are  expressed  promiscuously,  often  two,  sometimes 
all  three,  in  one  and  the  same  hymn,  though  the 
mystic  vein  is  decidedly  predominant  in  those  which 
otherwise  show  internal  evidence  of  lateness,  and  of 
which  the  greatest  number  (not  by  any  means  the 
totality)  is  collected  in  Book  X.  This  shows  that  all 
three  stages  of  thought  had  already  been  passed 
when  the  canon  of  the  Rig- Veda  was  finally  estab- 
lished, yielding  still  additional  proof  of  the  prodigi- 

'  This  is  the  conception  so  amply  developed  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter, and  the  final  consecration  of  which  will  be  given  a  few  pages 
further  on. 

27  _ 


41 8  VEDIC  INDIA. 

ous  antiquity  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  collection, 
which  was  to  save  it  from  oblivion  and  further 
corruption  for  a  generation  who  had  gone  far  greater 
lengths  on  the  two  opposite  ways — the  freedom  of 
soaring  thought  and  the  bondage  of  priest-ridden 
ritualism. 

4.  We  have  seen  the  sun  described  as  a  tree  with 
its  top  down  and  its  roots  up  (see  p.  144),  and  are 
familiar  with  the  thoroughly  worked  out  image  of 
the  heavens  as  the  tree  of  the  wonderful  foliage  ; 
this  quite  easily  led  to  the  question  :  "  What  was  the 
wood,  what  the  tree  ?  "  etc.  And  as  to  the  birth 
theory,  we  are  well  used  to  such  expressions  as  "  the 
Bright-one  is  born  of  the  Dark-one  "  (Day  of  Night), 
"  Heaven  and  Earth  whose  children  are  the  Devas," 
and  the  like.  This  is  one  form,  and  a  very  favorite 
one,  of  the  so-called  "  mythic  riddles,"  with  which 
the  Rig-Veda  teems.  The  sacrifice-theory  we  went 
into  at  great  length  in  the  preceding  chapter ;  but 
we  have  now  to  examine  a  most  important  hymn 
in  which  it  finds  its  crowning  expression— the  widely 
famous,  mystic  PURUSHA-SUKTA  (X.,  90),  to  which 
allusion  has  already  been  made  as  belonging  to  the 
very  latest  stage  of  the  Rig-Veda — if  not  already 
to  the  period  succeeding  it — and  savoring  more  of 
the  Ganges  than  the  Indus,  since  it  contains  the 
only  formal  mention  of  caste  in  the  collection  (see 
p.  280),  and  of  the  original  three  Vedas,  perhaps 
even  the  Atharva  Veda.  In  a  way  this  hymn 
supplements  and  completes  the  most  mystical  of 
the  verses  addressed  to  Vishvakarman,  the  "  Arti- 
ficer of  the  Universe  "  :    "  The  highest,  the  lowest 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  419 

and  the  middle  stations  that  are  thine,  teach  to 
thy  friends  at  the  sacrifice  ;  do  thou  sacrifice  to 
thyself,  delighting  thyself," — or  that  to  Agni  (X.,  7, 
6)  :  "  In  Heaven  sacrifice,  O  Dcva,  to  the  Devas  .  .  . 
and  in  the  same  manner  sacrifice  to  thyself,  O  thou 
of  the  beautiful  birth."  For  these  passages  do  not 
inform  us  ivJiat  or  whom  the  gods  are  to  sacrifice — or 
rather  sacrificed — as  a  means  of  creation.  Indeed 
we  saw  that  in  this  very  vagueness  lay  the  best 
answer,  by  leaving  us  to  imagine  the  heavenly  phe- 
nomena of  light  and  storm  as  a  "  sacred  action 
performed  by  the  gods  for  their  own  delight,  in 
accordance  with  an  eternal  law."  But  such  majestic, 
comprehensive  vagueness  did  not  suit  the  subtilized 
and  de-poetized  brains  of  the  later  theologians. 
Everything  had  to  be  explained  and  told  all  about, 
leaving  no  room  for  dreaming  and  imaginings.  So 
we  are  given,  in  the  Purusha-Sukta,  the  story  of 
Creation  in  the  guise  of  a  Divine  Sacrifice  with  a 
precision  and  fulness  of  detail  which  make  of  it  a 
complete  Cosmogony, — one,  too,  which  left  its  trace 
on  that  of  other  kindred  races.'  The  peculiar  theme 
was  most  probably  suggested  by  human  sacrifices, 
when  the  institution — avowedly  a  very  ancient  one, 
as  we  shall  presently  see — was  still  in  active  force  ; 
the  fact  that  the  Purusha-hymn  is  particularly  men- 
tioned as  having  been  sung  actually  at  human  sacri- 
fices ( purusha-medJia )  favors  this  hypothesis. 

5.   Purusha — more  correctly   tJie  Purusha,  the  Pri- 

'  Compare  the  Scandinavian  Cosmogonic  legend  (in  the  Edda)  of 
the  making  of  the  world  out  of  the  different  members  of  the  primeval 
giant  Ymer's  body. — For  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  Cosmogony  " 
see  Story  of  Chaldea,  pp.  2S^ff. 


420  VEDIC  INDIA, 

meval  Giant  or  Male  Principle,  THE  Man — is  the 
victim  whom  the  gods  offer  up  and  the  dissection  of 
whose  body — which  is  simply  the  material  to  work 
ivitJi,  the  whole  of  pre-existing  MATTER,  with  its 
latent  possibilities  for  generating  life — produces  the 
various  parts  of  the  universe  with  their  denizens,  of 
course  with  special  reference  to  our  habitable  earth, 
as  far  as  known  to  the  Aryas  of  India.  With  these 
few  hints  and  the  insight  we  have  been  gaining  all 
along  into  the  mythical  metaphysics  of  Brahmanic 
theology,  the  Purusha-Sukta  will  need  but  little  com- 
ment to  be  intelligible. 

I.  Purusha  of  the  thousand  heads,  the  thousand  eyes,  the  thousand 
feet,  covered  the  earth  in  all  directions  and  extended  ten  finger 
breadths  beyond. — 2.  Purusha  is  this  whole  universe,  whatever  has 
been,  and  whatever  shall  be,  and  a  possessor  of  the  immortality 
which  groweth  great  by  food  (offered  in  sacrifice  ?). — 3.  So  great  is 
Purusha,  yea,  greater  still.  One  quarter  of  him  is  all  that  hath  been 
made,  three  quarters  of  him  are  the  immortals  in  heaven. — 4.  With 
three  feet  Purusha  mounted  up,  with  one  foot  he  remained  here  ; 
then  he  spread  out  on  all  sides  and  became  that  which  eateth 
and  that  which  eateth  not.' —  5.  From  him  the  Virdj  was  born, 
and  from  the  Virdj  again  Purusha."  As  soon  as  he  was 
born  he  reached  out  beyond  the  earth  at  both  ends.  —  6.  When 
the  gods  prepared  the  sacrifice  with  Purusha  as  the  offering, 
the    spring   was    the    sacrificial   butter,  the  summer  was  the   fuel, 

'  "  One  foot  "  and  "  three  feet  "  is  literal ;  and  so  A,  Bergaigne 
renders  it.  Other  scholars  translate  "  one  quarter  "  and  "  three 
quarters,"  and  this  version  is  retained  in  v.  3,  because  there  the  other 
would  be  too  grotesque.  We  shall  see  presently  what  the  mystic 
"  foot  "  means. 

^  The  Virdj  is  a  ponderous  and  solemn  sacred  metre,  said  to  con- 
sist oi  forty  syllables.  That  metre  is  born  of  sacrifice  and  sacrifice  of 
metre  is  a  familiar  mystical  conception.  This  is  the  explanation 
given  by  the  Shatapatha-Brahmana  ;  it  commends  itself  by  its  simplic- 
ity and  its  conformity  to  Vedic  modes  of  thought  and  speech. 


COSMOGON  Y. — PHILOSOPH  Y.  42 1 

the  autumn  was  the  (accompanying)  oblation. — 7.  On  the  sacrificiai. 
grass  they  anointed  the  victim,  that  Purusha  who  was  born  in  the  be- 
t^inning  ;  him  the  gods  sacrificed,  whose  favor  is  to  be  sought,  and 
the  Rishis. — 8.  When  the  sacrifice  was  completed,  they  collected  the 
fat  dripping  from  it  ;  it  formed  the  creatures  of  air,  and  the  animals 
that  live  in  forests,  and  those  that  live  in  villages  (wild  and  domes- 
tic).— 9.  From  this  sacrifice  when  completed  were  born  the  Rig- 
hymns,  and  the  Sama-hymns,  and  the  incantations  (probably  the 
future  Atharvan)  ;  and  the  Yajus  was  born  from  it. — 10.  From  it  were 
born  the  horses  and  all  the  cattle  that  have  two  rows  of  teeth  ;  the 
kine  were  born  from  it ;  from  it  the  goats  and  sheep  were  born.' — 11. 
When  they  divided  Purusha,  into  how  many  parts  did  they  cut  him 
up  ?  What  was  his  mouth  ?  What  were  his  arms  ?  What  are  his 
thighs  and  his  feet  called  ? — 12.  The  Brahman  was  his  mouth;  the 
Rajanya  was  made  from  his  arms  ;  the  Vaishya  he  was  his  thighs  ;  the 
Shiidra  sprang  from  his  feet. — 13.  The  moon  was  born  from  his 
mind  ;  the  sun  from  his  eye  ;  Indra  and  Agni  from  hi^s  mouth  ;  from 
his  breath  the  wind  was  born. — 14.  From  his  navel  came  the  air  ; 
from  his  head  sprang  the  sky,  from  his  feet  the  earth,  from  his  ear  the 
regions;  thus  they  formed  the  worlds.  — 15.  When  the  gods  bound 
Purusha  as  victim,  preparing  the  sacrifice,  seven  enclosing  bars  of 
wood  were  placed  for  him,  thrice  seven  layers  of  fuel  were  piled  for 
him. — 16.  So  the  gods  through  sacrifice  earned  a  right  to  sacrifice  ; 
these  were  the  first  ordinances.  Those  mighty  ones  attained  to  the 
highest  heaven,  where  the  ancient  gods  abide,  whose  favor  is  to  be 
sought." 

6.  It  is  a  common  saying  that  any  one  fool  can  ask 
questions  which  it  takes  seven  wise  men  to  answer. 
The  case  is  sometimes  reversed.  It  takes  genius  and 
soul  to  ask  certain  questions,  and  minds  which  are 
not  master  minds  take  on  themselves  to  answer 
them.  This  is  the  case  with  most  questions  in  the 
Rig-Veda.  What  heights  and  depths  of  thought,  of 
reverent  longing  for  the  truth — the  absolute  truth — 

'  It  will  be  noticed  that  these  are  the  very  four  animals  who,  with 
man  (Purusha)  at  their  head,  are  declared  fit  for  sacrifice  (see  pp. 
406-409). 


422  VEDIC  INDIA. 

are  revealed  by  such  questions  as  these  :  "  Who  has 
seen  the  First-Born,  when  he  that  had  no  bones  {i.e., 
form)  bore  him  that  has  bones  ?  Where  is  the  Hfe, 
the  blood,  the  Self  of  the  universe  ?  Who  went 
to  ask  of  any  who  knew?"  (I.,  4,  164).  The  word 
which  philosophical  scholars  have  rendered  "  the 
Self  "  is  dtnian,  literally  "  breath  "  or  "  spirit  "  (which 
is  the  same  thing),  and  derived  from  the  same  root, 
AS,  "  to  breathe,"  which  has  given  one  form  of  the 
verb  "  to  be  "  in  Sanskrit  and  several  other  Aryan 
languages. '  With  every  desire  to  penetrate  into  the 
very  abstract  inness  of  things,  the  human  mind,  being 
unable  ever  quite  to  cut  itself  adrift  from  the  reali- 
ties of  material  existence,  was  compelled  to  hold  fast 
this  slight  thread  of  materialism  ;  but  then,  of  ma- 
terial things,  what  could  be  less  material,  more  un- 
substantial? A  breath — a  thing  which  is  not  seen, 
yet  is  life  itself,  for  when  it  stops,  life  ceases !  Who 
or  what,  then,  is  the  breath,  the  life,  the  dtjuan  of 
the  universe, — its  essence,  real,  yet  invisible?  Surely, 
more  spirituality  is  required  to  be  the  first  to  ask 
these  questions,  than  for  all  the  writers  of  the  Upani- 
shads  to  answer  them.  For  these  are  some  of  the 
themes  of  those  grand  Brahmanic  treatises  which 
embrace  all  that  the  ancient  Greeks  used  to  under- 
stand under  the  name  of  "  philosophy,"  and  which 
included  investigations  and  theories  concerning  crea- 
tion, the  nature  of  things,  the  study  of  the  world 
and  what  it  holds.  In  this  sense  all  the  cosmological 
and  metaphysical  portions  of  the  Rig-Veda  may 
already  be  entitled  Upanishads,  as  they  certainly 
*  Sskr.  asmi,  Slav,  esmi,  Lat.  sum,  etc.,  etc.,  "  I  am." 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  423 

form  the  transition  to  the  Upanishad  period  and 
Hterature.  The  Purusha-Siikta  has  been  so  called  ; 
so  we  may  call  a  short  cosmogonic  piece  (X.,  190), 
wonderfully  concise  and  comprehensive  both,  and 
quite  intelligible  when  we  have  the  key  to  this  class 
of  speculations  with  its  peculiar  form  of  speech  : 

"  From  kindled  heat  {tdpas)  Right  and  Law  were  born  {sdtya&xiA 
rita,  the  Cosmic  Order,)  and  Night,  then  the  watery  flood. — And 
from  the  watery  flood  the  coursing  year  was  born,  disposing  Day  and 
Night,  the  ruler  of  all  that  close  the  eyes. — And  in  their  order  the 
Creator  formed  the  sun  and  moon,  and  heaven  and  earth,  the  regions 
of  the  air  and  light." 

This  might  truly  be  called  a  Vedic  genesis-chap- 
ter, but  it  is  by  no  means  the  only  one.  Many  are 
the  passages — not  all  in  the  late  portions  either — 
where  the  Origin  of  Things  is  set  forth  in  the  same 
pregnant,  but  obscurely  mythical  form.  One  of  the 
finest  is  a  passage  in  the  second  hymn  to  Vishvakar- 
man  (X.,  82,  5-6),  which,  in  the  guise  of  one  ques- 
tion and  answer,  contains  in  substance  the  main  fact 
of  the  later  Brahmanic  cosmogony.  The  waters,  it 
is  there  said,  received  the  first — or  primordial — germ 
containing  all  the  gods, — the  germ  which  rested 
alone  on  the  lap  of  the  Unborn — AjA — the  One  in 
whom  all  existing  things  abide.  Who  does  not  see 
how  easily  this  "  first  germ "  could  become  the 
World-Egg  (more  commonly  known  as  the  Mundane 
Egg)  floating  for  ages  unnumbered — "  from  the  be- 
ginning"— on  the  primeval  waters  of  Chaos,  until 
the  Principle  of  Universal  Life,  the  Brahma  (neuter) 
which  rested  therein,  latent  and  inactive,  sprang  out 
as  Brahma  (masculine),  the  active  creative  principle 
— the  Maker  of  all  the  worlds  ? 


424  VEDIC  INDIA. 

7.  The  "  Unborn," — frequently  also  called  "  the 
One,"  Ekam — means  that  which  has  always  existed 
without  being  born  of  anything,  the  Eternally-Pre- 
existing, of  which  all  things  are  born,  when  the  de- 
sire of  manifesting  Itself  awakes  in  It.  Sometimes 
the  One  is  named  AjA  EkapAd,  literally  "  the 
One-footed  Unborn  " — a  seemingly  grotesque  ap- 
pellation, which  has  given  rise  to  as  grotesque  inter- 
pretations, but  which  is  really  only  one  of  those 
attempts  at  expressing  the  inexpressible  in  some  kind 
of  tangible  form  in  which  the  Aryan  thinkers  of 
India  have  always  dealt,  regardless  of  extravagance 
in  the  wording.  For  in  the  Rig-Veda,  the  "  foot  " 
may  stand  for  the  world  in  which  the  foot's  owner 
abides.  So  Vishnu  is  said  to  know  his  own  highest 
abode, — the  third,  while  only  two  are  known  to  men — 
and  the  source  of  light  is  said  to  be  "  at  his  feet ;  " 
and  his  "  three  strides  "  also  mean  nothing  else  than 
that  he  has  his  feet  in  the  three  worlds, — the  two 
visible  ones  and  the  third,  highest,  invisible  one  (see  p. 
240).  Again,  the  Purusha  has  one  foot  on  the  earth, 
and  three  in  the  heavenly  worlds  of  the  immortals, 
i.  e.,  in  the  two  other  worlds  and  the  fourth — the 
highest,  invisible  one  (see  p.  420).  For  there  is  always 
one  world  more  than  the  known  number.  If  "  the  two 
worlds  "  are  spoken  of — Heaven  and  Earth — there  is 
a  third  ;  if  "the  three  worlds  "—Earth,  Atmosphere, 
and  Heaven — there  is  a  fourth  ;  this  third,  this  fourth 
world  is  the  hidden,  the  unreachable,  unknowable 
one,  which  is  also  sometimes  called  the  Sanctuary  of 
the  Universe,  and  the  Navel,  i.  c,  the  Parent,  the 
Centre,  of  all  Origins.     Sometimes,  by  a  peculiarly 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  425 

Vedic  play  on  numbers,  each  world  is  again  divided 
into  three,  and  we  have,  instead  of "  the  two  worlds," 
"  the  six  worlds  " :  then  there  is  the  seventh. '  This 
supernumerary  hidden  world  is  the  only  one  in  which 
the  One  Unborn  abides,  equally  mysterious  and  un- 
conceivable, yet  firmly  felt  to  exist, — believed  in 
though  not  seen  ;  it  is,  in  Vedic  riddle-phrase,  the 
only  world  in  which  he  has  his  foot, — hence  Aja 
Ekapad,  "  the  One-footed  Unborn."  The  verse 
quoted  a  few  pages  back :  "  Who  has  seen  the  First- 
born ?  "  etc.  (I.,  164,  5)  is  followed  up  by  these  eager 
questionings : 

"  Not  knowing,  I  go  to  ask  of  those  who  know,  that  I  may  know, 
I  who  do  not  know  :  he  who  stretched  apart  and  established  the  six 
worlds,  in  the  form  of  the  Unborn,  did  he  also  establish  the  seventh? 
Let  him  speak  here  who  knows  the  hidden  place  of  the  beautiful 
Bird." 

The  admission  of  ignorance  (and  it  occurs  over 
and  over  through  the  Samhita),  so  simple,  so  sincere, 
is  deeply  touching.  They  will  "  go  ask,"  but  they 
hardly  hope  to  be  answered.  The  poet  who  de- 
scribes   Vishvakarman    as  the    "  First-born    of    the 

'  So  the  chariot  of  Surya,  like  that  of  the  Ashvins  has  three  wheels  ; 
two  the  Brahmans  know,  "  but  the  third,  the  hidden  one,  is  known 
only  to  the  deep-enquiring  "  (see  p.  370).  And  the  mystic  World-Bull 
in  IV.,  58,  2-3  (one  of  the  many  hymns  that  treats  of  Sacrifice  in  mystic 
guise)  has  two  heads,  three  feet,  four  horns,  seven  hands,  because  he  is 
present  in  all  the  worlds  :  the  two,  the  three,  the  four,  and  the  six — 
with  always  the  hidden  world  added.  The  seven  bars  of  wood  and 
the  thrice  seven  layers  of  fuel,  laid  for  Purusha  (see  p.  421)  belong 
to  the  same  order  of  ideas  :  they  symbolize  the  six  worlds,  plus  the 
one  hidden  world  (see  A.  Bergaigne,  Religion  Vedique,  vol.  ii.,  pp. 
20-25). 


426  VEDIC  INDIA. 

Waters,"  as  "  our  father,  our  creator,  our  maker  " 
(see  p.  264)  concludes  reverently  and  sadly :  "  Ye 
never  will  behold  him  who  gave  birth  to  these  things  ; 
something  else  it  is  that  appears  among  you. 
Wrapped  in  darkness,  and  stammering,  wander 
through  life  the  singers  of  hymns."  So  that  those 
ancient  fathers  of  our  race's  greatest  thinkers,  of  the 
men  for  whom  thought  became  a  fine  art,  the  occu- 
pation and  the  end  of  life,  had  already  found  the 
wisdom  which  concedes  that  some  questions  are 
answered  best  when  left  unanswered  ;  had,  in  all 
humility,  learned  the  lesson  which  comes  so  hard 
to  our  overbearing  modern  Science,  when  she  too — 
for  with  all  her  imperfections  she  is  honest — is  forced 
to  bend  her  haughty  head,  and  break  her  proud  lips 
to  utter  the  words  most  galling  to  her  self-confidence : 
"  I  do  not  know." 

8.  In  their  efforts  to  pierce  the  gloom  of  things 
before  time  was,  "  before  (or  beyond  ?)  the  earth,  the 
heaven  and  the  Asura-gods,"  the  Vedic  thinkers 
achieved  a  conception  of  primeval  chaos,  unquickened 
as  yet  by  the  first  fiat  of  Creative  Will,  yet  brooded 
over  by  the  Divine  Presence,  which  their  great 
poetic  gift  enabled  them  to  clothe  in  such  words 
as,  to  use  Max  Miiller's  enthusiastic  expression, 
"  language  blushes  at,  but  her  blush  is  a  blush  of 
triumph."  It  is  the  famous  cosmogonic  hymn  X., 
129,  the  great  Vedic  Upanishad,  which  contains 
more  than  in  germ  the  substance  of  those  later 
Brahmanic  philosophical  treatises,  which  received 
the  name  of  Vedanta-Upanishads,  i.  e.,  "  the  end 
or  final  goal    of    the    Veda."       One  of    the   great 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  A^IJ 

beauties  of  this  matchless  piece  is  that,  while  reach- 
ing the  uttermost  bounds  of  philosophical  abstrac- 
tion, it  is  never  obscure,  .unless  to  the  absolutely 
uninitiated. 

"  I.  Nor  Aught  nor  Naught  existed  then;  not  the  aerial  space, 
nor  heaven's  bright  woof  above.  What  covered  all  ?  Where  rested 
all  ?     Was  it  water,  the  profound  abyss  ? 

"2.  Death  was  not  then,  nor  immortality  ;  tliere  was  no  differ- 
ence of  day  and  night.'  That  One  breathed  breathless  in  Itself  \i.  e., 
existed,  but  without  exerting  or  manifesting  itselfj  ;  and  there  was 
nothing  other  than  It. 

"  3.  In  the  beginning  there  was  darkness  in  darkness  enfolded," 
all  was  undistinguishable  water.  That  One,  which  lay  in  the  empty 
space,  wrapped  in  nothingness,  was  developed  by  the  power  of  heat.^ 

"4.  Desire  first  arose  in  It — that  was  the  primal  germ  of  mind, 
which  poets,  searching  with  their  intellects,  discovered  in  their  hearts 
to  be  the  bond  between  Being  and  Not-Being.'' 

^  I.e.,  "time  was  not  yet,"  because  time  is  known  only  by  the 
alternation  of  day  and  night.  Therefore,  in  Genesis  I.,  the  first 
work  of  creation  is  to  "  divide  the  light  from  the  darkness." 

^  Compare  all  this  to  Genesis  I.,  2  :  "  And  darkness  was  on  the 
face  of  the  deep,  and  the  spirit  of  God  was  moving  (or  brooding)  on 
the  face  of  the  waters." 

^  Tdpasas,  "by  heat"  or  "out  of  heat."  Attention  has  been 
drawn  to  an  important  difference  in  the  reading  given  in  the  Tait- 
tiriya  Brahmana — tamasas — which  would  mean  "  out  of  darkness." 
It  is  suggested  that  this  might  have  been  the  older  reading. 

■*  Desire  (to  manifest  itself)  the  first  stirring  of  sentient  will, 
which  must  itself  precede  action.  The  word  is  kama.  It  became 
(from  obvious  association)  the  word  for  "  love  "  and  the  name  of  the 
love-god.  The  Greek  language  and  mythology  presents  an  exactly 
parallel  case  :  Eros,  the  name  of  the  love-god,  originally  means 
"desire."  And  by  the  light  of  this  marvellous  effort  of  Vedic 
thought,  the  main  features  of  the  Cosmogonic  fragment  in  Hesiod's 
Theogony  acquire  a  new  and  startling  significance  :  "  Sing  the 
sacred  race  of  immortals  who  sprang  from  Earth  and  starry  Heaven 
and  murky  Night,  whom  the  briny  deep  bore  [in  X.,  190 — see  above, 
the  '  watery  flood  '  is  born  from  Night].     .     .     .     Foremost  sprang 


428  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"5.  The  ray  of  light  which  stretched  across  these  worlds,  did  it 
come  from  below  or  from  above  ?  Then  seeds  were  sown  and  mighty 
forces  arose,  Nature  beneath  and  Power  and  Will  above. 

"6.  Who  indeed  knows?  Who  proclaimed  it  here, — whence, 
whence  this  creation  was  produced  ?  The  gods  were  later  than  its 
production — who  then  knows  whence  it  sprang  ? 

"  He  from  whom  this  creation  sprang,  whether  he  made  it  or  not, 
the  All-Seer  in  the  highest  heaven,  he  knows  it — or  he  does  not."  ' 

Startling  indeed  are  the  last  lines — most  startling 
the  last  words.  The  despondency,  the  hopelessness 
of  them,  is  like  the  sudden  relaxing  of  a  superhuman 
tension.  It  also  seems  to  foreshadow  the  cloud 
which  was  to  fall  on  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Aryas 
of  India,  after  altered  conditions  of  life,  and  espe- 
cially the  physically  enervating  climatic  influences 
of  their  new  abodes,  had  changed  the  joyous,  some- 
what belligerent,  nature-worship,  utterly  untram- 
melled with  laming  self-consciousness,  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  Sapta-Sindhavah  into  the  introspec- 
tive brooding,  so  destructive  to  action  and  single- 
hearted  enjoyment,  of  the  dwellers  on  the  Ganges. 
That  cloud  was  their  incapacity  to  make  their  reli- 
gion a  comfort  to  themselves.  True,  they  did  not 
seek  for  happiness,  but  for  Absolute  Truth.  So 
when  their  powerful  intellects  led  them  to  a  percep- 
tion of  The  One,  there  was  no  joy  in  the  finding, 
unless  it  were  the  cold  joy  of  the  enquiring  mind — 
the  gleam  of  the  beacon  that  lights  but  warms  not, — 

Chaos,  and  next  broad-bosomed  Earth  \^prithivi\  .  .  .  and 
Eros,  most  beautiful  of  immortals.  ..."  This  Eros  is  the  Cos- 
mogonic  Kama — Desire — of  our  hymn — the  prompter  of  the  act  of 
creation. 

'  See  especially  Max  Miiller's  Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  pp. 
559-564- 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  429 

for  there  had  not  been  love  in  the  seeking.  And 
THE  One  was  to  them  It — remote,  impersonal, 
therefore  as  good  as  non-existent.  Yet,  if  they  had 
not  looked  for  happiness,  they  missed  it  all  the 
same  ;  they  missed  it  so,  that  life,  with  its  miseries 
unrelieved  by  trust  or  hope,  became  worthless — ex- 
istence a  burden,  deliverance  from  which  was  the 
one  thing  devoutly  to  be  wished  for.  But  this  is 
trespassing  on  a  decidedly  post-vedic  field,  on  things 
which  are,  as  just  shown,  only  foreshadowed  in  the 

Rig. 

9.  This  question  of  monotheism  in  the  Rig-Veda 
has  been  all  along  an  exceedingly  vexed  one.  In 
the  first  place,  can  the  Vedic  Aryas  be  said  to  have 
achieved  monotheism  at  all  ?  Strange  question  to 
ask  of  so  rampantly  polytheistic  a  religion !  Yet 
the  perception  of  The  One  Unborn  existing  before 
time  and  beyond  space,  to  which  they  struggled  by 
sheer  force  of  reasoning,  is  very  near  it  ;  it  is,  at  all 
events,  the  nearest  even  their  descendants,  those 
champion  thinkers  of  the  world,  ever  came  to  it. 
They  came  near  it,  but  still  they  missed  it — in  what 
manner  we  have  just  seen — at  least  as  we  understand 
the  word.'  The  earlier  Vedic  poets  perhaps  came 
nearest  of  all  to  tJiat,  when  they  prayed  to  Varuna, 
the  punisher  and  forgiver  of  sins,  when  they  bade 
men  "  fear  him  who  holds  the  four  dice  before  He 
throws  them  down,"  and  assured  them  that  "  his  path 
is  easy  and  without  thorns  who  does  what  is  right " 
(I.,  41),  before  subtle  arguing  had  killed  intuition 

'  Not  so  the  Eranians.    The  Avestan  Ahura-Mazda,  as  Zarathushtra 
saw  and  heard  Him,  is  not  a  principle  or  a  god,  but  God. 


430  VEDIC  INDIA. 

and  warmth  of   feeling.      Yes,   they  almost  hit  the 
mark  then,  but  glanced  off  somehow. 

lo.  There  is  another  tendency  which  runs  through 
the  entire  Rig-Veda  and  which,  at  first  sight,  looks 
like  a  reaching  out  towards  monotheism.  It  assumes 
two  forms.  The  first,  which  we  have  had  repeated 
occasions  to  notice,  is  that  of  extolling  the  particular 
deity  invoked  at  the  time  above  all  the  others  and 
ascribing  to  it  the  same  actions  and  functions  which, 
in  other  hymns,  are  named  as  especially  belonging 
to  this  or  that  god.  This  is  the  stage  which  will 
retain  the  name  improvised  for  it  by  Max  Miiller : 
HENOTHEISM  or  KATHENOTHEISM  ;  /.  c,  the  worship, 
not  of  one  god  only,  but  "  of  one  god  at  a  time."  This 
peculiarity  is  accounted  for  by  the  worshipper's  wish 
to  ingratiate  himself  with  the  god  he  addresses  and 
of  course  asks  favors  from  ;  and  the  explanation  is 
good — so  far  as  it  goes.  But  it  is  superficial.  There 
is  far  more  to  the  practice  than  a  mere  point  of 
courtesy  or  etiquette,  as  is  shown  by  another  way 
the  Vedic  poets  have,  and  which  will  be  found,  on 
examination,  to  come  from  the  same  deeper  source: 
that  is  their  inveterate  passion  for  identifying  one 
god  with  another,  or  with  several  other  gods,  or 
several  gods — or  all — together.  Profound  scholars^ 
have  seen  in  this  only  a  puerile  trick,  a  juggling  with 
names  and  ideas  resulting  in  nothing  but  puzzlement 
and  confusion.  But  a  closer  study  soon  convinces 
that  there  is  much  method  in  the  madness.  The 
seemingly  mechanical  process  of  looking  up  and 
stringing  together  texts  bearing  on  the  matter, 
proves,  in  this  case  as  in  others,  most  helpful  and 


COSMOGON  Y. — PHIL  OSOPH  Y.  4  3 1 

lig:ht-bringing.  The  easiest  of  such  identifications 
to  interpret  is  that  of  such  late  abstractions  as 
Vishvakarman,  Prajapati,  with  several  of  the  earlier 
great  gods — Indra,  Varuna,  Tvashtar,  Savitar,  etc., 
simply  because  those  names,  as  already  pointed  out, 
were  originally  mere  epithets — "  All-Maker,"  "  Lord 
of  Creatures."  When  Vishvakarman  is  described  as 
the  First-Born  of  the  Unborn  (for  the  phrase  "  the 
First-Born  resting  on  the  lap — literally  the  tiavel — of 
the  Unborn,"  can  have  no  other  meaning) '  we  have 
another  and  covert  identification,  far  more  difficult 
to  unravel,  but  On  the  same  line  of  thought.  Before 
we  attempt  to  do  so,  we  must  study  the  First-Born 
under  still  another  name,  that  of  HiRANYAGARBHA, 
the  "Golden  Germ,"  or  "Golden  Embryo,"  which 
Professor  Max  Miillerhas  felicitously  rendered  "  the 
Golden  Child  "  in  his  translation  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful hymn,  X.,  121,  in  which  the  greatness  and  the 
works  of  the  Creator,  here  named  Hiranyagarbha, 
are  celebrated  in  poetry  which  will  stand  comparison 
with  that  of  the  Book  of  Job.  Very  remarkable  is 
the  burden  at  the  end  of  each  verse  which  we  must 
imagine  as  being  taken  up  in  chorus.  The  poet  who 
sings  of  the  glory  of  The  One,  feels  the  inconsistency, 
and  asks,  "  Who  is  the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer 
our  sacrifice,"  i.  e.,  "  which  of  all  the  many  gods  to 
whom  we  address  our  prayers,  is  this  One,  to  whom 
we  are  here  to  sacrifice  this  day?"  Here  is  the 
entire  hymn  : 

'Identical  in  meaning,  if  differently  worded,  with  X.,  129:  the 
First-Born  is  the  active  creative  principle  which  develops  out  of  the 
One  Unborn,  the  quiescent,  unmanifested  principle  of  life. 


432  VEDIC  INDIA. 

"  I.  In  the  beginning  there  arose  the  Golden  Child.  He  was  the 
one  born  lord  of  all  that  is.  *  He  established  the  earth-and  this  sky  : 
— Who  is  the  god  to  whom  we  shall  offer  our  sacrifice? 

"  2.  He  who  gives  breath  [/.  e.,  life],  He  who  gives  strength  ;  whose 
command  all  the  gods  revere  ;  whose  shadow  is  immortality,  whose 
shadow  is  death  : — Who  is  the  god,  etc. 

"  3.  He  who  through  his  greatness  is  the  one  king  of  the  breathing 
and  awakening  world  ;  He  who  governs  man  and  beast : — Who,  etc. 

"  4.  He  whose  greatness  the  Himavat,  the  samudra,  the  Rasa  pro- 
claim'; He  whose  these  regions  are,  as  it  were  his  two  arms:  — 
Who,  etc. 

"  5.  He  through  whom  the  sky  is  bright  and  the  earth  firm  ;  He 
through  whom  the  heaven  was  established, — nay  the  highest  heaven  ; 
He  who  measured  out  the  aerial  space  ; — Who,  etc. 

"  6.  He  to  whom  the  two  battle-hosts,  sustained  by  his  support, 
look  up  trembling  in  spirit,  there  where  the  risen  sun  shines : — 
Who,  etc. 

"  7.  When  the  mighty  waters  pervaded  the  universe,  holding  the 
germ  and  begetting  fire,  thence  He  arose,  who  is  the  sole  life  of  gods  : 
— Who,  etc. 

"  8.  He  who  by  His  might  looked  even  over  the  waters  which 
gave  strength  and  lit  the  sacrifice  ; — He  who  alone  is  god  above  all 
the  gods  : — Who,  etc. 

"  9.  May  He  not  harm  us,  the  Creator  of  this  earth  ;  who,  ruling 
by  fixed  ordinances,  created  the  heaven  ;  who  also  created  the  bright 
and  mighty  waters  : — Who,  etc." 

II.  The  writers  of  the  Brahmanas  make  it  a  busi- 
ness to  answer  all  the  questions  left  open  by  the 
more  truly  inspired  Rishis— and  we  often  wish  they 
did  n't.  In  this  case,  however,  it  might  have  been 
worse.  We  read  in  the  Shatapatha,  "  WJio  \i.  e.,  the 
Unknown  God  whom  the  Rishi  sought]  is  Prajapati : 

'  Prof.  Max  Miiller  renders  (and  so  do  most  translators) :  "  these 
snowy  mountains,  the  sea  and  the  distant  river."  But  the  original 
Vedic  names  convey  a  special,  very  marked  flavor,  and  as  they  have 
repeatedly  occurred  and  been  discussed  in  the  preceding  chapters 
there  was  no  objection  to  giving  them. 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  433 

to  him  let  us  offer  our  sacrifice."  And  some  conscien- 
tious theologian  forthwith  embodies  the  answer  in  a 
verse  which  he  tacks  on  to  the  beautiful  poem,  the  flat- 
test anticlimax  that  ever  was  devised  :  "  O  Prajapati, 
no  other  than  thou  hath  embraced  all  these  created 
things ;  may  what  we  desired  when  we  called  upon 
thee  be  granted  to  us  ;  may  we  be  lords  of  riches." 
Prajapati — Lord  of  creatures,  or  "  of  created  things" 
— being  a  descriptive  name  given  to  many  of  the  great 
gods  in  their  role  of  creators,  is  a  satisfactory  answer, 
as  far  as  it  goes.  But  it  does  not  go  far  or  deep 
enough.  We  have  at  last  arrived  at  the  point  where 
we  cannot  be  satisfied  with  less  than  an  entire  solu- 
tion of  the  riddle  which  we  call  the  Rig-Veda  ;  where 
we  must  lift  the  veil  of  the  very  sanctuary  itself  and 
see  what  is  the  real  essence  of  that  One  whom  "  wise 
poets  make  manifold  by  words."  For  that  is  to 
what,  in  the  end,  amounts  all  that  shifting  and  merg- 
ing of  divine  personalities  into  one  another,  those 
multitudinous  identifications. 

12.  If  we  collect,  then  carefully  con  these  texts, 
we  shall  be  led  to  the  conclusion  that  there  is  one 
divine  person  who  attracts  and  absorbs  the  others 
somewhat  as  a  larger  globule  of  quicksilver  does  any 
number  of  smaller  ones.  And  as  that  globule,  at  the 
slightest  jolt,  breaks  up  again  into  an  elusive  bevy  of 
small  ones,  so  that  divine  entity,  just  when  we  think 
we  are  fairly  grasping  it,  suddenly  vanishes,  and  the 
polytheistic  host  confronts  us  in  full  array.  That 
divine  person  or  entity  is  Agni,  he  of  the  "  three 
abodes"  and  the  "three  bodies" — as  Sun,  Light- 
ning, and  Fire.  We  see  the  often  fanciful  identifi- 
28 


434  VEDIC  INDIA. 

cations  tending  that  way,  vaguely,  obscurely,  till  now 
and  then  the  poets  are  surprised  into  a  definite 
statement  which  leaves  no  room  for  doubt.  There 
is  an  entire  hymn  of  many  verses  (11. ,  i)  in  which 
the  poet,  after  rehearsing  the  various  births  of  Agni 
— from  the  Waters,  from  the  cloud-rock,  from  the 
trees,  from  the  herbs — proceeds,  systematically,  to 
identify  him  with  nearly  every  god  in  the  pantheon. 
Agni,  he  tells  us,  is  Varuna,  Mitra,  and  the  other 
Adityas ;  he  is  Indra  and  Vishnu,  Tvashtar  and 
Rudra,  and  the  Maruts  ;  Pushan  and  Savitar,  even 
the  Ribhus,  and  others.  More  convincing,  because 
briefer  and  simpler,  is  verse  46  of  that  long  and 
mystical  hymn  I.,  64,  out  of  which  some  striking 
passages  have  already  been  quoted  : ' 

"They  call  him  Indra,  Mitra,  Varuna,  Agni;  then  he  is  the 
beautiful-winged  heavenly  Bird.  That  which  is  One  the  wise  call  it 
by  divers  names  :  they  call  it  Agni,  Yama,  Matarishvan." 

Or  this  (quoted  in  part  already)  :  "  Wise  poets  make 
the  beautiful-winged,  though  he  is  One,  manifold  by 
words."  The  circle  narrows,  and  we  read  :  "  O  Agni, 
many  names  are  given  thee,  O  god,  immortal  ruler." 

'  Hillebrandt  calls  this  hymn  the  "riddle-hymn."  It  is  still  con- 
sidered obscure  in  many  portions  ;  but  as  general  comprehension  of 
the  Rig- Veda,  both  as  to  spirit  and  form,  increases,  it  becomes  more 
intelligible.  Some  of  the  riddles  are  most  ingenious  and  quite  easy. 
Such  is  the  description  of  the  Year  as  the  ' '  twelve-spoked  wheel  of 
Rita  which  circles  round  the  heavens  without  the  axle  ever  getting 
heated  or  the  wood  rotten,  while  720  twin  brothers  keep  climbing  up 
on  it  "  (360  days  and  as  many  nights).  The  riddles  in  which  the  in- 
evitable Cow  and  Calf  are  turned  loose  are  among  the  hardest,  be- 
cause these  symbolical  animals  have  come  to  mean  anything  and 
everything. 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  435 

At  last  it  closes,  and  it  is  announced  :  "  Agni  IS 
ALL  THE  GODS."  Herewith  we  have  the  sought-for 
clue. 

For  the  Aryas  of  the  Rig- Veda  were — Fire-Wor- 
shippers.' 

After  the  stupendous  collection  has  been  subjected 
to  every  known  process  of  analysis  and  disintegra- 
tion, this  is  the  residue  left  in  the  crucible.  So 
much  will  plainly  appear  even  from  the  limited  but 
carefully  picked  selection  of  hymns  and  detached 
passages  in  the  present  volume. 

13.  From  these  it  must  have  become  clear  long 
ago  that  the  whole  naturalism  of  the  Rig-Veda,  its 
entire  conception  of  the  universe  and  its  Avorking, 
hinges  on  two  sets  of  natural  phenomena:  those  of 
Light  (Heat  is  included,  though  not  specially  men- 
tioned till  late),  and  of  Moisture,  embodied  in  Agni 
and  Soma.  And  we  cannot  perceive  or  compre- 
hend Agni's  real  nature  so  long  as  we  persist  in  nar- 
rowing it  down  to  the  conception  of  Fire — one  form 
of  him  only,  and  not  the  most  divine.  Agni  is  Light 
— the  light  which  fills  and  pervades  Space — which  has 
its  highest  abode  in  that  eternal,  mysterious  world 
above  the  heavens,  beyond  space  itself,  where  are 
the  hidden  sources  of  all  things — the  Sanctu^y,  the 
Navel  of  the  Universe,  where  Day  and  Night  them- 
selves, the  unequal,  ever  separated  sisters,  meet  and 
kiss  (L,   185,   5).     From   this  supernal  world  Agni 

'  And  probably  the  Indo-Eranian  Aryas  also.  Not  so  the  Zoroas- 
trians,  to  this  day  so  mis-named.  The  very  essence  of  Zarathushtra's 
reform  consisted  in  transforming  Fire-  and  Soma-worship  into  a 
symbolical  act. 


43^  VEDIC  INDIA. 

descends  and  manifests  himself.  He  is  "  born  "  or 
"  found  "  in  the  heavens  as  the  Sun,  in  the  atmos- 
phere as  Lightning,  on  earth  as  Fire.  These  are  his 
three  visible  Bodies  or  "  forms."  But  he  invisibly 
pervades,  lies  hidden  in,  all  things.  In  the  plants — 
or  how  could  he  be  brought  forth  out  of  them  ?  In 
the  Waters, — for  out  of  the  heavenly  ocean  the  light- 
ning flashes,  and  with  the  rain  he  descends  into  the 
earth,  thence  mounts  into  the  trees  and  herbs  as  sap, 
and  lies  concealed  in  them  until  brought  forth  by 
design  or  accident.  In  animals  and  men — for  what 
but  his  divine  presence  accounts  for  the  warmth  in 
their  bodies?  and  that  warmth  is  Life,  for  when  it 
leaves  the  body,  life  goes.  Soma  himself  is  only 
Agni's  other  self,  the  liquid  form  of  him,  the  hidden 
principle  of  life  which  makes  of  the  moisture  that 
pervades  all  nature,  the  invigorating  amrita,  the 
Drink  of  Immortality,  which  keeps  her  forces  living 
and  ever  young.  As  to  the  earthly  Soma,  the  fer- 
mented and  intoxicating  sacrificial  beverage,  Agni's 
divine  presence  is  trebly  manifested  in  it :  by  the 
flame  which  the  alcoholic  liquid  emits  and  feeds ;  by 
the  heat  it  diffuses  through  the  veins  of  the  partakers ; 
by  the  exhilaration,  the  fervid  enthusiasm,  nay  the 
inspiration,  which  seizes  on  those  who  have  tasted  it, 
and  makes  them  feel  in  direct  communion  with  the 
god,  makes  them  say  that  the  god  has  entered  into 
them  and  they  have  become  as  gods.  In  the  form 
of  Soma,  it  is  Agni  whom  the  worshipper  receives 
into  himself,  for  the  two  are  One. '     It  is  Soma  who, 

'  See  pp.  173-175  :  "  Soma  who  has  entered  into  the  Brahmans" 
(X.,  14). 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  437 

from  his  bright  bowl,  the  Moon,  dispenses  the  gentle 
dews  that  feed  the  plants,  but  hidden  in  the  dews 
— as  in  the  rain,  as  in  the  clouds — Agni  descends,  for 
he  is  the  Child  of  the  Waters.  Thus  the  ancient 
Aryas  not  only  preceded  the  early  Greek  schools  of 
philosophy  in  constructing  a  theory  of  the  world, 
but  greatly  surpassed  them  in  wisdom  ;  since,  while 
some  of  the  Greeks  declared  Water  to  be  the  ele- 
mentary principle  of  the  world,  and  others  Fire,  the 
Vedic  Aryas,  by  a  marvel  of  intuition,  had,  ages  be- 
fore, reached  the  perception  that  only  in  the  union 
of  both — of  Heat  and  Moisture — lies  the  universal 
life-giving  principle. 

14,  All  the  Devas  having  to  do  with  light,  light- 
ning, fire,  or  rain,  it  is  clear  that,  taking  the  stand 
just  developed,  it  is  quite  possible  to  drive  them  to 
bay  and  expose  them,  as  so  many  Vedic  thinkers 
have  done,  as  mere  names — endowed  with  a  fictitious 
individuality — to  find  the  nomen  (name)  behind  the 
numen  (deity),  to  use  a  phrase  of  Professor  Max 
Miiller,  which  was  a  revelation  in  its  day  ;  then  we 
behold  in  them  only  so  many  Persons  of  Agni,  in 
the  word's  original  meaning  of — Masks.'  No  won- 
der that  a  riper  age  discarded  them  all  as  MayA  — 
"  illusion  "  and  sought  the  One  behind  them.  Only 
the  stage  of  naturalism  had  then  been  passed,  and 
the  One  was  no  longer  Agni. 

15.  The  mysticism  of  the  Rig- Veda  has  its  source  : 

'  See  M.  MuUer's  Biographies  of  Words,  III.,  "  Persona." 
Originally  "  mask,"  then  the  aspect  one  presents,  the  face  one  puts 
on,  the  character  one  enacts.  The  "  persons"  of  a  deity  may  be  de- 
fined as  its  different  manifestations. 


438  VEDIC  INDIA. 

1st,  in  the  connection  of  Agni — as  Brihaspati  or 
Brahmanaspati — with  the  two  great  acts  of  worship, 
prayer  and  sacrifice ;  2d,  in  the  beHef  in  a  supernal, 
hidden  world,  the  source  of  light,  and  the  "  highest 
abode  "  of  all  divine  beings  ;  3d,  in  the  kinship  men 
claim  with  Agni,  and  owing  to  which  that  world  is 
their  "  home,  which  cannot  be  taken  from  them  (X., 
14),  to  which  they  are  "  restored  "  when  they  leave 
this  world  by  "  the  path  of  death  "  by  which  the 
Ancient  Fathers  preceded  them,  whom  they  go  to 
join  in  that  Abode  of  Light.  And  who  more  meet 
to  carry  them  thither  "  by  the  easiest  paths  "  than 
Agni  himself  in  his  fiery  form,  the  Messenger,  the 
Priest?'  This  fully  accounts  for  the  substitution  of 
cremation  for  the  earlier  rite  of  burial.* 

16.  As  religious  mysticism  develops  into  philo- 
sophical speculation,  the  same  principle  of  Light- 
and-Heat  in  union  with  Moisture  (the  Waters)  as  the 
factor  of  Creation  and  the  Supporter  of  the  Worlds 
still  holds  good :  the  First-Born,  the  "  first  germ, 
containing  all  the  gods,"  (powers  of  nature),  from  its 
resting-place  on  the  lap  of  the  Unborn,  is  received 
by  the  Waters  (X.,  82,  5-6),  and  it  is  heat  {tdpas)  that 
quickens  it  with  the  first  stirrings  of  desire  {kdnid) 
(X.,  129,  3-4).  ^ 

'  "  .  .  .  This  man's  unborn  part  convey  to  the  abode  of  the 
blessed.  .  .  .  Give  up  again,  Agni,  to  the  Fathers  him  who  comes 
offered  to  thee  with  oblations.     .     .     .  "  (X.,  14.) 

"^  That  this  was  actually  the  idea,  is  proved  by  a  notice  in  the 
Aitareya-Brahmana,  which  informs  us  that  "  formerly,"  at  sacrifices, 
\\\.&  ytipa  or  sacrificial  post  to  which  the  victim  had  been  bound  used 
to  be  thrown  into  the  fire  after  it,  because  it  represented  the  sacrificer, 
and  thus  placed  him  in  communion  with  the  gods — "  sent  him  to  the 
gods." 


COSMOGONY. — PHILOSOPHY.  439 

Agni,  then — Light-and-Heat — is  the  Divine  pre- 
existing and  self-existing  One,  who  (when  manifested) 
fills  and  pervades  the  worlds,  abides  in  and  contains 
all  things. 

In  this  way,  in  this  sense,  were  the  Aryas  of  India 
Fire-Worshippers.  In  this  way,  after  repeatedly 
reaching  out  for  Monotheism,  they  missed  it  at  last 
and  found  instead  Pantheism,  which  they  held  fast. 

And  thus  the  transition  from  pure  nature-worship 
to  the  transcendental  metaphysical  mysticism  of 
Brahmanism  is  effected  gradually,  smoothly,  within 
the  Rig-Veda  itself,  and  when  we  take  up  the  story 
where  the  Rig-Veda  drops  it,  we  shall  find  in  it  no 
break,  no  abrupt  turn  from  the  "  easy  paths,"  along 
which  we  have  been  led  so  far. 

THE   END. 


PRINCIPAL  WORKS  READ  OR  CONSULTED 

IN  THE  PREPARATION  OF  THE 

PRESENT  VOLUME. 


Barth,  a.   The  Religions  of  India.    Translated  from  the  French 

by  Rev.  J.  Wood.     London,  1882.     i  vol. 
Bergmgne,  Abel.     La  Religion  Vedique,  d'apres  les  hymnes  du 

Rig-Veda.     Paris,  1878-1883.     3  vol. 
BuHLER,  G.     Die  Indischen  Inschriften  und  das  Alter  der 

Indischen  Kuntspoesie.     (Sitzungsberich  der  Kais.  Akad.  der 

Wissensch.  in  Wien,  XI.)     Wien,  1890. 
The  Laws  of  Manu,  translated,  with  extracts  from  seven 

Commentaries.    (Vol.  XXV.  of  the  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East " 

Series.)     Oxford,  1886.     i  vol. 
Chantepie  de  la  Saussaye,  P.  D.     Lehrbuch  der  Religions 

Geschichte,  Erster  Band,  Freiburg,  J.  B.     1887.     (Popular.) 
De  Gubernatis,  Angelo.     Letture  sopra  la  Mitologia  Vedica. 

Firenze,  1874.     i  vol. 
La  Mythologie  des   Plantes  ;    ou,   Legendes  du  Regne 

Vegetal.     Paris,  18 78-1 882.     2  vol. 
Zoological  Mythology,  or  the  Legends  of  Animals,    Lon- 


don, 1872.     2  vol. 

DoNNER,  Dr.  O.  Pindapitryajna,  das  Manenopfer  mit  Kl6ssen 
bei  den  Indern.  Abhandlung  aus  dem  Vedischen  Ritual.  Ber- 
lin, 1870.     36  pp. 

DowsoN,  John.  A  Classical  Dictionary  of  Hindu  Mythology 
AND  Religion,  Geography,  History,  and  Literature,  London, 
Triibner's  "  Oriental  Series,"  1879.     i  vol. 

Duncker,  Max.    Geschichte  des  Alterthums,  vol.  Ill,  :   Die  Arier 
AM  Indus  und  Ganges.     Leipzig,  1879. 
441 


442  WORKS  CONSULTED. 

Eggeling,  Julius.  The  Satapatha-Brahmana,  according  to  the 
text  of  the  Madhyandina  School.  Part  I.,  Books  1.  and  II. 
(Vol.  XII.  of  the  "  Sacred  Books  of  the  East"  Series.)  Oxford, 
1882.     I  vol. 

Geldner,  Karl,  und  Kaegi,  Adolf.  Siebenzig  Lieder  des  Rig- 
Veda,  Ubersetzt  von  ;  mit  Beitragen  von  R.  Roth.     Tubingen, 

1875. 
Geldner  und  Pischel.     Vedische  Studien,  I.  and  II. 
Grassmann,  Hermann.     Rig- Veda,  ubersetzt.     Leipzig,  1 876-1 877. 

2  vol. 
Haug,  Martin.     The  Aitareya  Brahmanam  of  the  Rig- Veda, 

edited,  translated,  and  explained.     Bombay,  1863.     2  vol. 
Hewitt,  J.  F.     Notes  on  the  Early  History  of  Northern 

India,  Journal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic  Society,  1888  and  1889. 
HiLLEBRANDT,  Alfred.     Ueber  die  Gottin  Aditi  (vorwiegend  im 

Rig- Veda).     Breslau,  1876.     51  pp. 
Varuna  und   Mitra,   ein  Beitrag  Zur  Exegese  des  Veda. 

Breslau,  1877.     159  pp. 
Vedische  Mythologie.     Erster  Band.     Breslau,  1891. 


Hunter,  W,  W.  The  Indian  Empire  :  Its  people,  history,  and 
products.     Second  edition.     London,  1886.     i  vol. 

Jones,  Sir  William.  Institutes  of  Hindu  Law  ;  or,  The  Ordi- 
nances OF  Menu.     Edition  of  1869,  London,     i  vol. 

Kaegi,  Adolf.  The  Rig- Veda,  the  Oldest  Literature  of  the  Indians. 
(Translated  by  R.  Arrowsmith,  with  additions  to  the  Notes.) 
Boston,  1886.     I  vol. 

Kuhn,  Adalbert.  Mythologische  Studien.  First  vol.  :  Die 
Herabkunft  des  Feuers  und  des  Gottertrankes.  GU- 
tersloh,  1886.     (Second  edition.) 

Lassen,  Christian.  Indische  Alterthumskunde.  London,  1866- 
1874.     2  vol.     (Second  edition.) 

Lefmann,  Dr.  S.  Geschichte  des  Alten  Indiexs.  (Oncken's 
Series  "  Allgemeine  Geschichte  in  Einzeldarstellungen.")  Ber- 
lin, 1880. 

LuDwiG,  Alfred.  Die  Nachrichten  des  Rig-  und  Atharva- 
Veda  uber  Geographie,  Geschichte,  Verfassung  des  Alten 
Indiens.  (Abhandlungen  der  kon.-bohmisch.  Gesellsch.  der 
Wissensch.  VI.  Folge,  8  Band.)     Frag,  1875.     58  pp. 

Die  Philosophischen  und  Religiosen  Anschauungen  des 

Veda  in  ihrer  Entwickelung.     Prag,  1875.     58  pp. 


WORKS  CONSULTED.  443 

Der  Rigveda,  oder  die  heiligen    liymnen   der   Brahmana. 

Prag,  1878.     5  vol. 
MuiR,  J.     Original  Sanskrit  Texts  on  the  Origin  and  History 

of  the  People  of  India,  their  Religion  and  Institutions.     Second 

edition.     Paris,  1872-1884.     5  vol. 
MuLLER,  F.  Max.     Ancient  Sanskrit  Literature,  A  History  of. 

London,  1859.      I  vol. 
Science  of  Religion,  Introduction  to  the.     London,  1873. 

I  vol. 
Science  of  Language,  Lectures  on  the.     New  York,  1875. 

(From  the  second  London  edition,  revised.)     2  vol. 
Chips  from  a  German  Workshop,  vol.  I.  and  II.     Nevir 

York  edition,  1876. 
Origin  and  Growth  of  Religion,  Lectures  on  the  ;  as  il- 
lustrated by  the   Religions    of   India.      (Hibbert   Lectures  for 

1878.)     I  vol. 
Biographies  of  Words  and  the  Home  of  the  Aryas. 

London,  1888.     i  vol. 
India,  What  can  it  Teach   us?     New  edition.     London, 


1892.     I  vol. 
Myriantheus,   Dr.   L.      Die  Aqvins,  oder  Arischen   Dioskuren. 

Mimchen,  1876.     185  pp. 
Oldenberg,    Hermann.     The   Grihya-SOtras,    Rules    of    Vedic 

Domestic  Ceremonies,  Part  I.     ("Sacred  Books  of  the  East" 

Series,  vol.  XXIX.)     Oxford,  1887.     i  vol. 
Perry,   Edward  Delavan  (of  Columbia  College).     Indra  in  the 

Rig-Veda.     {Journ.  of  the  Amer.  Or.  Soc,  i38o.)     92  pp. 
Roth,  Rudolph.     Zur  Litteratur  und  Geschichte  des  Weda. 

Stuttgart,  1846.     148  pp. 
Scherman,  Dr.  Lucian.     Philosophische  Hymnen  aus  der  Rig- 

UND  Atharva-VedA-Sanhita  verglichen  mit  den  Philosophe- 

men  der  alteren   Upanishads.     Strassburg  and  London,    1887. 

96  pages. 
Schroeder,  Dr.,  Leopold  v.     Indiens  Literatur  und  Kultur  in 

historischer  Entwicklung.     Leipzig,  1887.     i  vol.     (Popular.) 
St.  Martin,  Vivien  de.     Etude  sur  la  Geographie  du  Veda. 

Paris,  i860.     I  vol. 
Wallis,  H.  W.     The  Cosmogony  of  the  Rig-Veda.     London, 

1887.     I  vol. 


444  WORKS  CONSULTED. 

Weber,  Albrecht.     History  of  Indian  Literature.     London, 

1878.     I  vol, 
Indische  Skizzen.     Vier  bisher  in  Zeitschriften  Zerstreute 

Vortrage  und  Abhandlungen.     Berlin,  1857. 
Indische   Streifen  ;     Kritisch-Bibliographische,    auf    dem 


Gebiete  der  Indischen  Philologie,  seit  dem  Jahre  1849. 
Westergaard,  N.  L.     Ueber  den  altesten  Zeitraum  der  In- 
dischen Geschichte,  mit  Rucksicht  auf  die  Litteratur.     Bres- 

lau,  1862.     93  pp. 
Williams,  Monier.      Religious  Thought  and  Life  in  India. 

London,  1883. 

. Indian  Wisdom,     i  vol.     Third  edition.     London,  1876. 

Wilson,  Horace  Hayman.     Select  Specimens  of  the  Theatre 

of  THE  Hindus.     London,  1871.     2  vol. 
WuRM,  Paul,     Geschichte  der  Indischen  Religion,  im  Umriss 

dargestelt.     Basel,  1874.     i  vol.     (Popular.) 
ZiMMER,  Heinrich.    Altindisches  Leben  ;  die  Cultur  der  Vedischen 

Arier  nach  den  Samhita  dargestellt.     Berlin,  1879.     ^  vol- 

Numerous  pamphlets  and  essays  in  the  Zeitschrift  der  Deutschen 
Morgenldndischen  Gesellschaft,  the  yournal  of  the  Royal  Asiatic 
Society,  the  Proceedings  and  yournal  of  the  American  Oriental 
Society,  the  Victoria  Institute,  and  other  special  periodicals, 
and  the  Encyclopedia  Britannica.  Also  works  and  papers  bear- 
ing on  the  subject  more  or  less  remotely,  and  such  as  would  not 
be  of  much  use  to  students.  The  works  and  sources  which, 
though  consulted,  are  to  be  used  specially  in  connection  with 
the  next  following  volume  on  Brahmanic  India,  are  not  men- 
tioned here. 

Oldenberg's  new  book,  Die  Religion  des  Veda,  Berlin,  1894, 
was  not  received  in  New  York  in  time  to  be  utilized  in  the 
present  volume. 

Z.  A.  R. 


INDEX. 


Aboriginal  tribes,  savage,  of  the 

present  day,  299,  300 
Abu,  Mount,  16 
Aditi,    mother   of  the  Adityas  ; 

nature   of,    1 51-153  ;     "  The 

Infinite,"  153,  154 
Adityas,    sons    of    Aditi,     151  ; 

meaning   of   the   name,    154  ; 

their  number  and  nature,  155  ; 

affinity  between  them  and  the 

Amesha-Spentas  of  the  Avesta, 

Agnayi,  wife  of  Agni,  a  pale  ab- 
straction, 265 

Agni — Fire  ;  naturalistic  descrip- 
tion of,  156,  157  ;  the  friend  of 
men,  157,  158  ;  the  Sacrificial 
Fire,  158  ;  the  divine  priest, 
159  ;  birth  of  (from  ihearaui  or 
fire-drill),  ij5o  ;  as  Siirya,  the 
Sun,  i6i  ;  Apam-N'apdt,  "  Son 
of  the  Waters,"  161,  162  ;  de- 
scent of,  in  rain,  162  ;  three 
abodes  of ,  1 63  ;  "  finding  "  and 
"  bringing  "  of,  164  ;  his  kin- 
ship with  men,  166  ;  funeral 
form  of,  167  ;  invoked  at 
funerals,  358,  360  ;  /lo/ar  and 
purohita,  39S-400  ;  identified 
with  all  the  gods,  433-435  ; 
One  with  Soma,  436  ;  the 
One  divine  essence  of  the  Uni- 
verse, 435-439 


Agnihotras,     the      three      daily 

sacrifices,  15S 
"  Agni-Purana  "  ;  Flood  legend 

in,  335,  344 

Ahi,  the  cloud-serpent,  a  drought- 
fiend,  pierced  by  Indra,  195 

A  Intra,  Eranian  equivalent  of 
Vedic  Asura,  name  of  God  in 
the  Avesta,  138 

"  Aitareya  Brahmana,"  the  ; 
legend  of  Shunahshepha  in, 
410-413 

Aja,  "  the  Unborn  "  (sometimes 
Aja  Ekapdd),  the  pre-existing 
One,  423-425 

Aja  Ekapdd,  see  Aja. 

Akesinos,  Greek  name  of  the 
Tchenab. 

Almsgiving,  praise  of,  374,  375 

Amesha-Spentas  in  the  ^Avesta 
partly  answer  to  the  Adityas, 
155,  tiote 

Avirita,  the  drink  of  immortal- 
ity, 175  ;  churning  of  the,  as 
told  in  the  Mahabharata,  187- 
190 

Ananta,  the  Serpent,  342 

Angiras,  the  ;  a  mythical  priestly 
race,  connected  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Agni,  165;  actors  in  the 
storm-myth  of  Sarama  and  the 
Panis,  256-258,  261,  364,  365 

Animals  of  India,  35-44 

Animism,  a  conspicuous  feature 
of  the  Rig- Veda,  132 


445 


446 


INDEX. 


Anquetil  Duperron,  on  India's 
giant  trees,  30 

Antariksha,  "  Middle-Region  "; 
see  Atmosphere. 

Anu,  the,  one  of  the  "  Five 
Tribes,"  323 

Apas,  see  Waters. 

Apsaras,  Water- Maidens,  213 

Arant,  the  fire-drill,  159,  160 

"Aranyaka,"  appendices  to  some 
Brahmanas,  122 

Aranyani,  the  genius  of  the 
forest   272 

Ariaka,  the  Aryan  snake-god. 

Aryas,  prehistoric  ;  reconstruc- 
tion of  their  life,  51-56  ;  their 
primeval  home  uncertain,  74- 
76  ;  of  India,  separated  from 
the  Indo-Eranians,  104  ;  de- 
scend into  the  Penjab,  106  ; 
their  mode  of  life  in  the  Pen- 
jab, 108-112  ;  their  long  con- 
flict   with   the   natives,    113  ; 

" and  Dasyus  "  (Aryas  and 

natives),  the  division  of  races 
in  the  Rig-Veda,  and  the 
origin  of  caste,  282,  284,  285  ; 
their  conquests  not  all  by  war, 
314  ;  partly  by  missionary 
work,   315-318 

Aryaman,    one   of   the   Adityas, 

.155 

Aryd-varta,  ancient  name  of 
Hindustan,  334 

Ashoka,  his  rock  inscriptions,  56 

Ashvamedha,  see  Horse  -  sacri- 
fice. 

Ashvattha,  see  Ficus  Religiosa. 

Ashvins,  the,  Morning  Twilight 
Twins,  229,  233  ;  their  numer- 
ous functions  and  pursuits,  233- 
235  ;  birth-myth  of,  252-256 

Ashvini,  wife  of  the  Ashvins,  a 
pale  abstraction,  265 

Asikni,  Vedic  name  of  the 
Tchenab. 

Assam,  not  included  in  the 
present  work,  2  ;  native  land 
of  tea,  31,  note 

Asura,  originally  the  Aryan  title 


of  beneficent  beings,  later 
transferred  to  evil  beings, 
demons  or  fiends,  138  {see 
Akurci);  401,  note; — the  "an- 
cient gods,"  401 

Atharva-Veda,  the  fourth  Veda, 
incorporated  late,  different 
from  the  other  three,  11 7-1 19 

Atharvan,  a  mythical  priest,  who 
"  kindled  Agni  "  ;  etymologi- 
cal affinities  of  the  name,  165 

Atharvans,  a  class  of  priests,  ib. 

Atman,  the  Self,  the  Soul  of  the 
world,  422 

Atmosphere,  the  third  world, 
ruled  by  Varuna,  144  ;  scene 
of  the  Storm-Drama,  191 

Avatar  (incarnation  of  Vishnu)  ; 
third — Tortoise,  i8g  ;  see  ill. 
17  ;  sixth  —  Parashu  -  Rama, 
278,  note  ;  see  ill.  18  ;  first — 
Fish  (Matsya),  341,  342,  344  ; 
see  ill.  30 

B 

Bamboo,  30-32 

Banana,  {Pisang,  Musa  Sapien- 

tum),  32 
Banyan,  see  Ficus  Indica. 
Battle  of  the  Ten  Kings,  on  the 

Parushni,  332 
Bias,  or  Viyas,  modern  name  of 

one   of   the    "  Five    Rivers," 

108,  note  {see  Vipasa,  Hypasis, 

Hypanis,  Vipasis). 
Bhaga,  one  of  the  Adityas,  155 
"  Bhagavata      Purana,"      335  ; 

Flood  legend  in,  343,  344 
Bharatas,     a     powerful      native 

tribe,    probably   converted  by 

Vishvamitra  ;    hostile    to    the 

Tritsu,  319,  328 
Bholan  Pass,  4 

Bhrigus,  a  mythical  race,  "  find- 
ers"  of  Agni,   164,  364,  and 

note,  364 
Bogh,  Slavic  name    for    "god" 

and  (the  one)  God,  155 
Bombay,  ceded   to    England  by 

Portugal,  79 


INDEX. 


447 


Brahma,  prayer,  in  the  form  of 
sacred  texts,  261  ;  (neuter)  the 
all-pervading  presence  and 
essence  in  later  philosophy, 
latent  and  quiescent,  262 

Brahma  (masculine),  the  mani- 
fested Brahma  (neuter)  ;  the 
Creator  ;  the  head  of  the  Brah- 
manic  Triad,  262  ;  produces 
the  Castes  from  his  body,  281 

"  Brahmanas,"  theological  treat- 
ises, commentaries  on  the  dif- 
ferent Vedas,  120-122 

Brahmanaspati,  or  Brihaspati, 
"  Lord  of  Prayer,"  247  ;  In- 
dra's  companion  in  the  storm- 
myth  of  Sarama  and  the  Panis, 
256-258;  the  sacrificial  fire,  the 
sacerdotal  form  of  Agni,  261 

Brahmans,  the  privileged  priest- 
hood, 116;  the  highest  caste 
in  post-vedic  times,  274-279  ; 
their  extravagant  claims  as  set 
forth  in  the  Laws  of  Manu,  276 

Brahmaputra,  8,  9 

BraJund-varta,  the  holy  land  of 
Brahmanic  India,  333,  334 

Brihaspati,  see  Brahmanaspati. 

Burma,  not  included  in  the  pres- 
ent work,  2 


Caste  (varna),  274-281  ;  origin- 
ally founded  on  difference  of 
race,  282,  and  of  color,  283 

Castes,  the  four,  274  ;  as  defined 
in  the  Laws  of  Manu,  275- 
279;  the  three  "  twice-born  " 
{dvi-ja),  279  ;  mentioned  only 
once  in  the  Rig-Veda,  280,  281 

Ceylon,  Isle  of,  description  of, 

45-47 

Chaldea,  connection  of,  with  the 
Dravidians  of  India  before  the 
coming  of  the  Aryas,  305-311 

Chaldean  Flood  legend  com- 
pared with  the  same  in  India, 
335.  339,  340,  343,  344-346 

Chhandas  (Metre),  one  of  the 
Vedangas,  125 


Classification,  its  drawbacks  and 
advantages,  237-240 

Clive,  Lord,  defeats  the  French, 
East  India  Company,  80 

Clouds  ;  their  many  mythical 
uses:  milch-kine,  193  ;  moun- 
tains and  castles,  194  ;  drought- 
fiends,  195 

Colebrooke,  greatest  of  early 
Sanskrit  scholars,  58  ;  his  prin- 
cipal works,  99,  100 

Comparative  Mythology,  a  new 
science  ;  its  achievements  and 
its  errors,  301-303 

Cosmogonic  questions,  415  ; 
speculatious,  i,\t  ff. 

Cotton,  33,  note 

Cow,  the,  sacredness  of,  192  ; 
the  mythical  cloud,  193  ;  the 
bright,  of  Light  ;  the  black,  of 
Darkness,  227  ;  the  Dawn  as, 
ib.  symbolism  of  :  Vach 
(Prayer),  the  divine — ,  272  ;  Va^ 
sishtha's  symbol  of  Brahmanic 
Sacrifice,  see  ill.  18 

Culture,  general  sketch  of,  349  ; 
characteristic  pictures  of,  374- 
381 

Cursing  of  Dasyus,  378,  379 


D 


Daevas,  Eranian  equivalent  of 
Vedic  Devas  ;  stands  for 
demons,  fiends,  in  the  Avesta, 
138 

Ddhyu,  Eranian  form  of  "  Das- 
yu,"  its  meaning  in  the  Avesta 
and  the  Akhsemenian  inscrip- 
tions, 113,  7iote 

Daityas,  a  race  of  giants,  343 

Dakshind,  liberality,  largess  to 
priests,  264  ;  383-386  ;  on  what 
grounds  claimed  and  bestowed, 
386,  387  ;  the  heavenly — be- 
stowed by  the  Devas  on  sacri- 
ficers,  393 

Ddsapatms,  "Wives  of  the 
Demons,"  265 

Dasyus  (see  Ddhyu),  natives,  com- 


448 


INDEX. 


bated  and  abhorred  by  the  Ar- 
yas,  113  ;  "  Aryas  and — ,"  the 
division  of  races  in  the  Rig- 
Veda  and  the  origin  of  Caste, 
282  ;  came  to  mean  ' '  enemies  " 
and  "  demons,  fiends,"  then 
"  slaves,  servants,"  283,  284  ; 
not  one  race  or  nation,  but 
many  tribes  belonging  to  va- 
rious races,  285-287  ;  cursed 
by  Vasishtha,  378,  379 

Death  and  future  life,  concep- 
tions of,  350,  359-361  ; for  the 
wicked,  361,  362  ;  how  trans- 
formed in  time,  362,  363 

Dekhan,  definition  of,  3  ;  gen- 
eral description,  18-20 

Deodar,  see  Teak. 

Deus,  Dio,  Dios,  Dieu — God  ; 
the  words  whence  derived,  137 

Devas — gods  ;  meaning  of  the 
word ;  whence  derived,  137, 
138 ;  how  created,  139,  140 
(see  Daevas) 

Devaddrti,  see  Teak. 

Devapatnis,  "  Wives  of  the 
gods,"  265 

"  Dharma-Shastras  "  ^  ancient 
>•  codes  of 

"  Dharma-Sutras  "        )  law,  94 

Dies-piter,  Latin  equivalent  of 
Vedic  Dyaushpitar,  137 

Divodasa,  tribal  hero  of  the 
Tritsu,  323  ;  his  wars  with  the 
mountain  tribes,  323,  324 

Djumna,  see  Yamuna. 

Dogs,  35,  36 

Dravidians,  one  of  the  races 
whom  the  Aryas  found  in  pos- 
session, 287,  288  ;  their  char- 
acteristics, 292  ;  their  Earth- 
and-Serpent  worship,  293  ;  had 
human  sacrifices,  296  ;  their 
connection  with  Chaldea  be- 
fore the  coming  of  the  Aryas, 
305-311  ;  were  of  Turanian 
stock,  308 

Dupleix,  director  of  the  French 
East  India  Company,  defeated 
by  Lord  Clive,  80 


Dzd-ja,  "twice-born";  mean- 
ing of  the  word,  279 

Dyaus — Heaven,  the  Sky — the 
oldest  Aryan  deity,  137,  138 

Dyaushpitar,  "  Dyaus  the  Fath- 
er," 137 

E 

East  India  Company,  English, 
establishment  of,  77 

East  India  Company,  Dutch,  79, 
80 

East  India  Company,  French ; 
its  rivalry  with  the  English 
Company  and  its  final  defeat, 
80,  81 

East  India  Company,  Portu- 
guese ;  cruelty  and  rapacity  of, 
78,  79 

Ekam,  "  the  One,"  see  Aja. 

Elephants,  36  ;  of  Ceylon,  46 


Famines,  13-15 

Festival  of  Serpents,  294  {see  ill. 
22) 

Ficus  Indica  (banyan),  descrip- 
tion of,  24-29 

Ficus  Religiosa  {Ashvattha,  Pip- 
pala),  description  of,  29,  30  ; 
fed  on  by  the  finest  variety  of 
silk-worms,  42  ;  Arani  made 
of,  160 

Fire-Worship,  the  clue  to  the 
Rig- Veda,  435-439 

"  First-Born,"  the,  forms  of : 
Vishvakarman,  425,  431  ;  Hir- 
anyagarbha,  431,  432  ;  Praja- 
pati,  433 

"  Five  Tribes,  or  "  Five  Races," 
the,  323 

Flood  legend,  the,  in  India,  310, 
335-348  ;  in  the  Shatapatha 
Brahmana,  335-337  ;  in  the 
Mahabharata,  337-340  ;  in  the 
Matsya-Purana,  340-342  ;  in 
the  Bhagavata  Parana,  343, 
344  ;  traces  of,  in  folk-lore, 
348  ;  compared  with  the  Chal- 


INDEX. 


449 


dean  legend  and  the  Biblical 
account,  335,  339,  340,  343, 
344-346 

Forests,  20  ;  destruction  of,  and 
its  evil  effects,  20-23 

Funeral  ritual,  349-359  ;  origi- 
nally burial,  351-353;  changed 
to  cremation.  353-359 


G 


Gambling,  a  leading  vice  of  the 
Aryan  race,  375  ;  vivid  de- 
scription of,  376-377 ;  cheating 
at,  377 

Gandharas,  a  people  of  the  Kabul 
valley,  324 

Ganga,  see  Ganges. 

Ganges  (Ganga),  8  ;  mentioned 
only  once  in  the  Rig-Veda,  267 

Gdyatri,  the,  the  holiest  text  in 
the  Rig- Veda,  241 ;  possibly  a 
confession  of  faith  for  converts, 
316-318 

Gharghar,  modern  name  of  the 
Lower  Sarasvati. 

Ghats,  Western  and  Eastern,  18 

Goddesses,  few  and  insignificant, 
265 

Gods,  see  Devas. 

Gondhs,  one  of  the  chief  Dra- 
vidian  tribes  of  the  present 
day,  296 

"  Grihya-Sutras,"  rules  for  the 
conduct  of  life,  94 

Grimm,  Jacob,  philological  law 
discovered  by  him,  59 

Guru,  a.  spiritual  instructor,  suc- 
cessor of  the  ancient  J>uro Alia, 
316 

H 

Haoma,    Eranian   equivalent   of 

Soma,  169 
Hapta-Hendu,   Eranian  form  of 

Sapta-Sindhavah ;  Avestan  and 

Persian  name  of  the  Penjab, 

108 
Haraqaiti,  Eranian  equivalent  of 

"  Sarasvati,"  268 
29 


Harishchandra,  King,  see  Story 

of  Shunahshepha,  410-413 
Harits,  usually  seven,  the  steeds 

or  mares  of  the  Sun,  the  Dawn, 

Indra,  Agni,  etc.,  217 
Hastings,  Warren,  patron  of  first 

Sanskrit  scholars,  57,  81,  82 
Hayagriva,  a  demon,  343 
Helmend,  the  Eranian  Haraqaiti, 

268 
Henotheism  (or  Kathenotheism), 

worship  of  one  god  at  a  time, 

430 
Herb-doctor's  song,  380 
Himalaya,  general  description  of, 

3-9  ;  its  meteorological  influ- 
ence on  India,  9-12  ;  its  aver- 
age height,  15 
Himavat,  "  Abode  of  Winter," 

see  Himalaya. 
Hindu-Kush,     mountain     passes 

in,  4 
Hindustan,  definition  of,  3 
Hiranyagarbha,      "  the     Golden 

Embryo,"  264,  431,  432 
History  in   the    Rig-Veda,  303, 

304,  322 
Horse-sacrifice      (ashvamedha), 

in    the    Rig- Veda,    403-406 ; 

symbolism  of,  403-405 
/('b/rtr  (priest),  Agni  as,  159 
Human  sacrifices  (ptirushamed- 

ha),  in  the  Rig-Veda,  406-413 
Humboldt,  Wilhelm  von,  one  of 

the   early  pillars    of   Sanskrit 

scholarship,  92 
Hydaspes,   Greek   name   of   the 

Jhelum. 
Hydraotes,  Greek  name  of  the 

Ravt. 
Hypasis,  Hypanis,  Vipasis,  Greek 

names  of  the  Bias. 


Ida,  spiritual  daughter  of  Manu, 

337 
Identification  of  gods  with   one 
another,  430,  431  ;  of  all  the 
gods  with  Agni,  433-435 


450 


INDEX. 


Idolatry,     Vedic     religion     free 

from,  133 
India,  general  view  and  extent, 

1-3 

Indo-Eranian  period,  49,  104 

Indra,  the  Thunderer,  191  ;  the 
hero  of  the  Atmospheric  Battle- 
drama,  the  Aryan  war-god, 
196,  197,  199  ;  his  inordinate 
craving  for  Soma,  198,  199  ; 
the  friend  of  men  and  the  dis- 
penser of  wealth,  199-202  ;  his 
rivalry  with  Varuna,  202,  203  ; 
his  stormy  infancy,  204  ;  his 
dispute  with  the  Maruts,  211  ; 
his  relations  to  Surya,  218, 
219  ;  to  Ushas,  220,  221  ; 
Tvashtar's  son,  251  ;  in  the 
myth  of  Sarama  and  the  Panis, 
256-259 

Indrani,  the  wife  of  Indra,  a  pale 
abstraction,  265 

Indus  {see  Sindhu,  Sindh),  8 

Iravati,  Epic  name  of  the  Ravi. 

Iroti,  see  Ravi. 

Itihdsas,  legendary  poems,  94 


"Jandrdana,  a  surname  of  Vishnu, 

341 
Jhelum,  modern  name  of  one  of 

the  "  Five  Rivers,"  107,  note ; 

(see  Vitasta  and  Hydaspes). 
Jones,  Sir  William,  translator  of 

the  Laws  of  Manu,  57  ;  founder 

of  the  Bengal  Asiatic  Society, 

83  ;   his  work  in  the  field  of 

Sanskrit  studies,  83,  84,  100  ; 

his  accidental  discovery  of  the 

Hindu  drama,  84-87 
Jupiter,  see  Dies-piter. 
jfyotisha  (Astronomy),  one  of  the 

Vedangas,  125 

K 

Kalidasa,  the  "  Hindu  Shake- 
speare," 88 

Kalpa  (Ceremonial),  one  of  the 
Vedangas,  125 


Kandhs,  one  of  the  chief  Dra- 
vidian  tribes  of  the  present 
day,  296 

Kathenotheism,  see  Henotheism. 

Kiu'veis,  short  epic  poems,  95 

Khaibar  Pass,  4 

Kolarians,  one  of  the  races  whom 
the  Aryas  found  in  possession, 
287,  288  ;  their  characteristics, 
290-292 

Kshatriyas  or  Rajanyas,  the  War- 
rior Caste,  274  ;  defined  in  the 
Paws  of  Manu,  275  ;  their 
struggle  with  the  Brahmans 
and  extermination,  278,  note 

Kuram  Pass,  4 

Kuru,   later  name  of  the  Puru, 

333 
Kutsa  the  Puru,  see  Purukutsa. 
Kuvera,  the  god  of  wealth,  8 


Language  no  test  of  race,  311, 
312  ;  but  exerts  racial  and 
moral  influence,    313 

Lions,  38 

M 

Magic,  little  used  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  373,  379 

"  Mahabharata,"  the  greater  of 
the  two  Hindu  epics,  92  ;  the 
Flood  I,egend  in,  338-340 

"  Manava-Dharma-Shastra," 
"  Institute  of  Manu,"  94 

Alandalas  "books"  into  which 
the  Rig-Vcda  is  divided,  115 

Mandara,  mountain,  1S8 

Mantra  (Eranian  Manthra), 
"  hymns,  sacred  texts,"   I14 

Manu,  Man,  "  the  human  race," 
164  ;  the  progenitor  of  the 
human  race,  184 ;  son  of 
Vivasvat,  ib.  and  255  ;  the 
hero  of  the  Flood  Legend  in 
India,  336-342 

Jllannshya,  one  of  the  names  for 
"  Man."    184 


INDEX. 


451 


Manyus,     "Wrath,"     a   deified 

abstraction,  264 
Marriage,    367-373 ;    sacredness 

of,    typified   by    the    mythical 

marriage  of  Soma  and  Siirya, 

368-370 
Martya  "mortal,"   a  name   for 

"  man,"  184 
Marudvriddha,    Vedic   name   of 

the  Tchandrabhaga. 
Maruts,  the,  Storm-Winds,  191  ; 

Indra's     companions     in     the 

Atmospheric  Battle,  196,  197  ; 

their  characteristics,  210  ;  their 

dispute  with  Indra,  210 
Matarishvan,  the   "bringer"  of 

Agni,  164,  170,  254 
"  Matsya  (Fish)   Purana,"    the  ; 

Flood  Legend  in,  340-342 
Medha       "  sacrificial       virtue," 

legend  about,  409 
Minerals  of  India,  44,  45 
Miihra,  the  Eranian  equivalent 

of  the  Vedic  Mitra,  149 
Mitra,  a  god  of  Light,  invoked 

joinUy  with  Varuna,  149,  150  ; 

an  Aditya,  151 
Monotheism,  tendency  to,  dimly 

perceptible   in  the    Rig-Veda, 

132,  429  ;  missed  at  last,  430, 

439 

Monsoons,  10 

Moon,  the,  Soma,  the  fount  of 
amrita,  1 77 

Moon-worship  in  the  Rig-Veda, 
178-180 

Mrityu,  Death  personified,  351 

Musa  Sapientum ,  see  Banana. 

Mysticism  in  the  Rig-Veda,  437, 
438 

Myths,  definition  of  the  word, 
135  ;  primeval  Aryan,  in  the 
Rig-Veda,  ih.;  nature — spirit- 
ualized and  transformed  into 
abstractions,  259,  260 

N 

Nadistuti,  "  River-hymn,"  a 
valuable  geographical  docu- 
ment, 266 


Ndgas,  snakes  ;  also,  a  mythical 
snake-people,  294 

Ndraka,  a  "  hell-world,"  363 

Naturalism,  principal  character- 
istic of  the  Rig-Veda,  133,  134 

Night,  the  sister  of  the  Dawn, 
225 

AHrukta  (Etymology),  one  of  the 
Vedangas,  125 


Panini,  author  of  the  monumental 
Sanskrit  grammar,  130,  note 

Pan  is,  the,  a  mythical  robber- 
tribe  ;  myth  of,  and  Sarama, 
256-259 

Pantchanada,  brings  to  the  Indus 
the  united  waters  of  the  "  Five 
Rivers,"  106  ;  j^^  Penjab. 

Pantheism,  not  monotheism, 
achieved  by  the  Rig- Veda,  435 

"439  . 

Parallelism  between  the  Aryas  of 
India  and  the  Eranians,  48-50, 
104,  132,  138,  139,  155,  7tote  ; 
429,  note ;  435,  note 

Parashu-Rama,  the  exterminator 
of  the  Kshatriyas  ;  sixth  incar- 
nation {avatar)  of  Vishnu,  278, 
note  ;  see  ill.  18 

Parjanya,  the  god  of  the  thunder- 
storm, probably  the  Monsoon, 
205-208 

Parsu,  the  (a  Persian  tribe),  allies 
of  the  Tritsu  in  the  War  of 
the  Ten  Kings,  328 

Parushni,  or  Purushni,  Vedic  name 
of  the  Ravi. 

Patala,  modern  Hyderabad,  an 
ancient  Dravidian  city,  308 

Penjab  (Pantchanada,  Sapta- 
Sindhavah),  first  portion  of  In- 
dia settled  by  Aryas,  106  ;  geo- 
graphical description  of,  ib.; 
its  rivers,  106-109 

Periods  of  Vedic  literature,  129 

Pinda-Pitriyajna,  "  cake  obla- 
tion to  the  Fathers,"  366 

Pippala,  see  Fie  us  Religiosa. 


452 


INDEX. 


Pisang,  see  Banana. 

Pitris — Fathers — spirits  of  the 
dead,  drink  Soma  from  the 
Moon,  177  ;  live  in  bliss  with 
Yama,  182  ;  and  receive  there 
their  descendants  who  join 
them  after  death,  356,  357, 
360 ;  the  various  classes  of, 
363-367  ;  actors  in  the  celes- 
tial sacrifice,  398 

Poetry,  Hindu,  characteristics  of, 

92,  93 

Polytheism,  embodied  in  the 
Rig-Veda,  132 

Population  of  India,  great  variety 
of  the,  313 

Prajapati,  "  Lord  of  Creatures," 
an  epithet  of  Savitar,  245  ;  of 
Soma,  Indra,  Vishvakarman, 
263  ;  becomes  an  abstraction 
and  a  separate  deity,  ib.;  iden- 
tified with  Hiranyagarbha, 
432/. 

Pramantha  (churning-stick),  i8g 

Prishni,  the  Cloud-Cow,  mother 
of  the  Maruts,  209 

Prithivi,  Earth,  the  Mother,  136 

Prithu,  the  (a  Parthian  tril)e), 
allies  of  the  Tritsu  in  the  War 
of  the  Ten  Kings,  328 

"  Puranas," — "  Tales  of  Eld"  ; 
their  number  and  subject-mat- 
ter, 95 

PtDohitas,  family  and  tribal 
priests  and  national  bards, 
315;  their  religious  and  polit- 
ical influence,  and  their  mis- 
sionary work,  315,  316  ;  their 
great  usefulness,  387,  396 

Puru,  the,  one  of  the  "  Five 
Tribes,"  323  ;  usually  allies 
of  the  Tritsu,  324,  325  ;  turn 
against  them,  325  ;  head  the 
confederacy  of  the  Ten  Kings, 
327  ;  are  beaten  on  the  Pa- 
rushni,  332  ;  change  their  name 
to  Kuru,  333 

Purukutsa  (Kutsa  the  Puru),  King 
of  the  Puru,  323  ;  ally  of  the 
Tritsu,  325  ;  then  head  of  the 


confederacy  against  them,  326, 
327  ;  beaten  on  the   Parushni, 
332 
Purukutsi,    daughter     of    Puru- 
kutsa, mother  of  Trasadasyu, 

333 

Purusha,  the  primeval  Male  or 
giant  ;  the  castes  produced 
from  his  body,  280,  419-421 

Puruskamedka,  see  "  Human 
sacrifices." 

"  Purusha-Siikta,"  —  "  Purusha- 
hymn,"  280,  418-421 

Pushan,  a  solar  deity,  of  rural 
character,  235,  236;  the  guide 
of  the  dead,  34S,  and  note /  at 
the  Horse-sacrifice,  405,  and 
note 

R 

Race  after  gain,  381 

Rainfall,  11-13 

Rajanyas,  see  Kshatriyas. 

Rakshasas,  the  cannibal  wizard 
demons  of  epic  poetry,  298 

"  Ramayana,"  the  ;  one  of  the 
two  great  Hindu  epics,  92  ; 
the  subject-matter  of,  298 

Ravi  or  Iroti,  modern  names  of 
the  "  Five  Rivers,"  108,  note. 
(See  Parushni,  Iravati,  Hy- 
draotes.) 

Ribhus,  the  ;  myth  of,  247-250 

Rig-Veda,  the  ;  (full  title  :  Rig- 
Veda-Samhita)  the  most  sacred 
and  oldest  Aryan  book,  114  ; 
minute  study  of,  and  memoriz- 
ing, 119,  120;  becomes  obscure 
and  calls  for  commentaries,  120, 
121  ;  complicated  character  of, 
131-133  ;  principally  natural- 
ism, 133-136;  history  in,  303, 
304,  322  ;  Fire-Worship,  the 
clue  to,  435-439  ;  Pantheism 
its  highest  achievement,  439 

Rishis,  ancient  poet-priests, 
founders  of  illustrious  and 
powerful  priestly  families,  115 

Rita,  definition  of,  146  ;  Varuna, 
the  keeper  of,  147  ;  sacrificial, 


INDEX. 


453 


391,395  ; becomes  "rite,"  392  ; 
etymological     meaning     of — , 
391,  note 
Rohita,son  of  Harishchandra,  see 
story    of    Shunahshepha,  410- 

Roots,  philological  meaning  of 
the  word,  with  illustrations, 
60-62 

Rudra,  the  Stormy  Sky,  father  of 
the  Maruts,  "  the  Terrihle," 
209  ;  the  Shiva  of  the  Brah- 
manic  triad,  240 


Sacrifice —  Yajna;  its  importance 
in  Aryan  life,  382  ;  compelling 
force  of,  3S7,  393-395  ;  a  sort 
of  spell,  388  ;  an  imitation  of 
the  phenomena  of  Light  and 
Rain,  389-393  ;  the  "  warp"  or 
"chain"  of,  396  ;  celestial — a 
counterpart  of  terrestrial — ,  396 
-398  ;  identity  of  the  two,  399  ; 
by  whom  offered,  398,  399  ;  to 
whom,  400,  401  ;  "  supreme 
essence  "  of,  402  ;  Soma — ,  402, 
403;  Horse  —  (ashvaincdhd), 
403-406  ;  human — (ypurusha- 
medha),  among  the  Dravidians, 
296  ;    among  the  Aryas,  409- 

413 
Sama-Veda,  the  third  Veda,  1 16 
Samhita,  "collection,"  114 
Samraj,      "  King     of     Kings," 

highest  royal  title,  333 
Samudra,  "  gathering  of  waters," 
name  probably  given  to  the 
Indus  at  its  junction  with  the 
Pantchanada  ;  later  a  name  of 
the  sea  ;  also  the  celestial 
cloud-ocean,  107,  162,  268, 
note  ;  the  vat  into  which  Soma 
flows  when  pressed  at  sacrifices, 

394, 398 
Sandrophagos,     Greek    name    of 

the   Tchandrabhaga. 
Sanskrit,    beginning   of    studies, 

and  first  results,  57-59  ;  words 


traced  through  the  various 
Aryan  languages,  ancient  and 
modern,  60-74  '•  niinor  litera- 
ture, 96  ;  second  stage  of 
studies,  96-102 

Santals,  the  chief  Kolarian  tribe 
of  the  present  day,  290 

Sapta-Sindhavah,  "  The  Seven 
Rivers,"  Vedic  name  of  the 
Penjab  ;  its  meaning,  108  (see 
Hapta  Hendti). 

Sarama,  myth  of,  and  the  Panis  ; 
a  storm-myth,  256-259  ;  spirit- 
ualized, —  personification  of 
Prayer,  262 

Sarameya  dogs,  Yama's  messen- 
gers, 182  ;  children  of  Sarama, 
256,  259  ;  at  funerals,  357 

Saranyii,  daughter  of  Tvashtar, 
wife  of  Vivasvat,  mother  of 
Yama  and  the  Ashvins  ;  prob- 
ably "the  fleet  Night,"  252- 
256 

Sarasvati  (modern  Sarsuti  and 
Gharghar),  the  seventh  and 
easternmost  river  of  the  Sapta- 
Sindhavah,  108,  109  ; — river- 
goddess,  267  ;  probably  at  one 
time  Sindhu,  the  Indus,  268  ; 
in  still  earlier  times  the  Eran- 
ian  Haraqaiti,  modern  Hel- 
mend,  ib.  ;  goddess  of  elo- 
quence and  sacred  poetry,  269 

Sarsuti,  modern  name  of  the 
Upper  Sarasvati. 

Satyavrata,  the  hero  of  the  Flood 
legend  in  the  Bhagavata 
Purana,   343 

Savitar,  sun-god,  god  of  the 
Evening,  241-244  ;  spiritual 
aspect  of,  244-246  ;  probable 
identity  of,  with  Tvashtar,  246, 
249 

Sayana,  author  of  the  standard 
commentary  on  the  Rig  Veda, 
129-130 

Schlegel,  Friedrich  Wilhelm  von, 
one  of  the  early  pillars  of  San- 
skrit scholarship,  92 

Serpent,    Dravidian    symbol   of 


454 


INDEX. 


Earth,  293  ;  probably  fre- 
quently symbolical  of  the 
Dravidian  Earth-worship  in 
the  Rig-Veda,^/3.  ;  adopted  in 
time  by  the  Aryas,  294  ;  the 
sacred  symbol  of  most  Turan- 
ian races,  308-310 

"  Shakuntala, the  Ring  of,"  drama 
by  Kalidasa,  accidentally  dis- 
covered and  translated  by  Sir 
William  Jones,  84,  85 

Shambara,  a  mountain  chieftain 
at  war  with  the  Tritsu,  323 

"  Shastras,"  Ji'f  Dharma-Shastras. 

"  Shatapatha  Brahmana,"  the  ; 
Deluge  Legend  in,  335-337  ; 
on  human  sacrifices,  408  ; 
legend  in,  on  the  suppression 
of  bloody  sacrifice,  409 

Sheep,  as  beast  of  burden,  36 

Shesh  or  Sheshna  (also  Vasuki), 
King  of  Serpents,  189  ;  the 
Dravidian  Snake  god,  symbol 
of  the  Earth-worship,  293 

Sheshna,  see  Shesh  and  Vasuki. 

Shiskna-devas,  Dravidian  Snake- 
worshippers,  293 

Shiva,  the  ;  see  Tugra. 

Shiva,  the,  "Destroyer"  of  the 
Brahmanic  triad,  developed 
from  Rudra,  239 

Shraddha,  "  Faith, "  a  deified 
abstraction,  264  ;  commemora- 
tive rite  in  honor  of  the  dead, 
359.  365,  366 

"  Shrauta-Sutras,"  treat  of  mat- 
ters connected  with  Shniti — 
revelation,  127 

Shruti,  "  revealed  "  sacred  liter- 
ature, 122-124,  127 

Shudras,  the  Menial  class  ;  the 
fourth  caste,  274  ;  defined  in 
the  Laws  of  Manu,  276  ;  for- 
bidden the  study  of  the  Veda, 
279 

Shunahshepha,  legend   of,    409- 

413 
Shushna,  the  Drought-demon. 
Shutudri    or     Shatadru,      Vedic 

name  of  the  Sutledj,  108,  note 


Siam,  not  included  in  the  present 
work,  2 

Sikshd  (Phonetics),  one  of  the 
Vedangas,  125 

Silk-worms,  42 

Sindhu,  Sindh,  ancient  name  of 
the  Indus  ;  its  meaning,  100, 
and  note 

"Smarta-Sutras,"  treat  of  mat- 
ters connected  with  sacred 
traditions,  127 

Smriti,  sacred  tradition,  123  ; 
what  it  embraces,  124^. 

Snakes,  profusion  of,  and  de- 
struction of  life  by,  40 

Soma,  the  Eranian  Haoma  ;  in- 
timate connection  of,  with 
Agni,  168  ;  the  plant,  the 
trade  with,  170,  171  ;  —  the 
pressing  of,  1 71-173  ;  the 
sacrificial  beverage  and  its 
exhilarating  effects,  174  ;  the 
heavenly — amrita,  the  drink 
of  immortality,  175  ;  —  the 
Moon,  177-180  ;  mythical 
marriage  of — with  Surya  sym- 
bolical of  human  marriages, 
368-370; — sacrifice,  402,  403  ; 
One  with  Agni,  436 

Sudas,  King  of  the  Tritsu,  son 
(or  grandson)  of  Divodasa. 
continues  the  Aryan  conquest, 
324  ;  his  victory  over  the  Con- 
federacy of  the  Ten  Kings  on 
the  Parushni,  332 

Sugar-cane,  33,  note 

Suleiman  Mountains,  passes  in,  4 

Sun-and-Dawn  Drama  ;  plot,  in- 
cidents of,  and  actors,  212-215 

Surya,  the  Sun,  a  form  of  Agni, 
161  ;  the  Sun-god,  215-218  ; 
his  relations  to  Indra,  218, 
219 

Surya,  the  Sun-maiden  (Dawn), 
daughter  of  Savitar,  her  mythi- 
cal marriage  with  Soma  sym- 
bolical of  human  marriages, 
368-370 

Sutledj,  modern  name  of  the 
largest  of  the  "  Five  Rivers," 


INDEX. 


455 


8,  9,  107,  note ;  {see  Shutudn, 

Shatadru,  Zadadres). 
Sutras,  collections  of  short  ntles 

and  aphorisms,  126 
Suttee,      "  widow-burning,"     no 

authority  for,  in  the  Rig-Veda, 

70-72,  352,  7tote 
Svarga-loka,t\\&  ' '  heaven-world  " 

of  the  blessed  dead,  361 


Taittiriya-Samhita,  "  the  Black 
Yaju,"  a  part  of  the  Yajur- 
Veda,  117 

Tdla,  a  "  hell-world,"  363 

Tea,  a  native  of  Assam,  31,  note ; 
Chinese  legend  about,  ib. 

Teak  (deodar,  deva  ddru),  23,  24 

Tchandrabhaga,  Sanskrit  and 
modern  name  of  the  river 
formed  by  the  junction  of  the 
Jhelum  and  the  Tchenab,  107, 
note ;  {see  Marudvriddha  and 
Sandrophagos). 

Tchenab,  modern  name  of  one 
of  the  "  Five  Rivers,"  107, 
note ;  {see  Asikni  and  Ake- 
sinos). 

Theatre,  Hindu,  86-88  ;  its 
affinities  with  the  Greek  and 
the  Elizabethan  drama,  86,  87; 
its  golden  age,  88  ;  its  sources 
the  same  as  those  of  classical 
and  European  mythical  legend, 
88-92 

Tigers,   38  ;    destruction  of   life 

by,  39.  40 

Trasadasyu,  powerful  king  of  the 
Puru,  grandson  of  Purukutsa, 
friend  of  the  Aryas,  333 

"  Traividya,"  "  the  threefold 
Veda,"  117 

Trees,  remarkable,  of  India,  23- 
33 

Tritsu,  the  ;  the  leading  and 
purest  Aryan  tribe  ;  one  of  the 
"  Five  Tribes,"  319,  323 ; 
their  .power  and  their  wars, 
323-326 ;    their   allies   in    the 


War  of  the  Ten  Kings,  328 ; 

their  victory  on  the  Parushni, 

332 
Tugra,  the  ;  a  Dravidian  people, 

allies  of  the  Tritsu  in  the  War 

of  the  Ten  Kings,  328 
Turvasu,     one     of     the    "Five 

Tribes,"  323,  324 
Tvashtar,  probable  original  iden- 
tity of,  with  vSavitar,  246,  249  ; 

the  skilful   artisan,  246,  247  ; 

adventure  of,  with  the  Ribhus, 

247,  248  ;   Indra's  father,  251  ; 

an  old  morose  sky-god,   252  ; 

— and  the  Ashvins,  252-256 
"Twice-born"    {dvi-ja),     castes 

alone  allowed  the  study  of  the 

Veda,  279 

U 

"  Upanishads,"  philosophical 
treatises,  95,  123  ;  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  426-428 

Ural  Mountains,  a  fictitious 
boundary  between  Europe  and 
Asia,  74,  75 

Ushas,  the  Dawn  ;  badly  treated 
by  Indra,  220,  221  ;  the  most 
poetical  figure  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  221-224  !  her  relations 
to  her  sister.  Night,  225  ;  to 
Surya,  226  ;  "  the  Mother  of 
Cows,"  227  ;  the  dispenser  of 
wealth,  227-229 

Uttara-Kura,  the    "  remotest    of 


Vach,  divinized  speech,  269 ; 
originally  thunder,  the  voice 
of  the  gods  ;  then  the  Sacred 
Word,  270 ;  hymn  to,  ib.  ; 
eventually  ritualistic  Prayer, 
271  ;  the  "divine  Cow,"  272 

Vaishvdnara,  a  surname  of  Agni, 
158 

Vaishyas,  the  Working  Class, 
third  caste,  274  ;  defined  in  the 
Laws  of  Manu,  275 


456 


INDEX. 


"Vajasaneya  Samhita,"  "the 
White  Yaju,"  a  part  of  the 
Yajur-Veda,  117 

Vala,  the  cave-demon  (clouds),  258 
Varna  "  color,"  the  native  name 
for  caste,  283 

Varuna,  a  Sky-god  ;  meaning  of 
the  name  ;  whence  derived, 
140-142;  Kingand/^j-wra,  143; 
ruler  of  the  Atmosphere,  144  ; 
hymns  to,  145  ;  keeper  of  the 
Rita,  146  ;  the  punisher  of  sin, 
147  ;  Vasishtha's  penitential 
hymns  to,  147,  148  ;  invoked 
jointly  with  Mitra,  149  ;  trans- 
form^ed  into  a  water-god,  150  ; 
an  Aditya,  151  ;  his  rivalry 
with  Indra,  202,  203 

Varunani,  the  wife  of  Varuna,  a 
pale  abstraction,  265 

Vasishtha,  a  Rishi,  bard  of  the 
Tritsu  ;  his  narrow  orthodoxy 
and  fierce  race  feeling ;  opposes 
Vishvamitra's  liberal  policy  ; 
schism  between  the  two 
schools,  318-322 
Vdsudeva,  a  surname  of  Vishnu, 
^341  _ 

Vasuki  (also  Shesli  or  Sheshna), 
King  of  Serpents,  189 

Vata,  see  Vayu. 

Vayu,  or  Vata,  the  wind,  185,  186 

Veda,  meaning  of  the  word,  98, 
99  ;  the  three  traividya,  I17  ; 
the  fourth,  ib.  ;  study  of — for- 
bidden the,  Shiidra  caste,  279 

"  Vedangas,"  the  six  "limbs  of 
the  Veda,"  ;  branches  of  Vedic 
scholarship,  125,   126 

"  Vedanta-Upanishads,"  have 
their  roots  in  the  Rig-Veda, 
426 

Vedi,  the  seat  of  the  gods  at  sac- 
rifices, 397 

Vegetation,  variety  of,  34-36 

"  Vikrama  and  Urvasi,"  or  "  the 
Hero  and  the  Nymph,"  play 
by  Kalidasa,  go,  91 

Vikramaditya,  King  of  Ujjain, 
the  patron  of  Kalidasa,  88 


Vindhya  Mountains,  divide  Hin- 
dustan from  Dekhan,  3  ;  their 
character  and  elevation,  16 

Vipasa,  Vedic  name  of  the  Bias. 

Vishanin,  the  ;  probably  wor- 
shippers of  Vishnu  ;  allies  of 
the  Tritsu  in  the  War  of  the 
Ten  Kings,  328 

Vishnu,  240;  the  "Preserver" 
in  the  Brahmanic  triad,  241 ; 
third  (Tortoise),  Avatar,  of, 
188  ;  sixth  (Parashu-Rama) 
Avatar  of,  278,  note;  first 
(Fish)  Avatar  of,  335-347 

Vishvakarman,  "  the  Artificer  of 
the  Universe,"  a  title  of  Indra, 
Surya,  and  others,  263  ;  be- 
comes an  abstraction  and  the 
name  of  the  Supreme  Being, 
264  ;  the  "  First-born  of  the 
Waters,"  425 

Vishvamitra,  a  Rishi,  purohita 
of  the  Bharatas ;  his  liberal 
policy  towards  the  native  tribes 
and  broad  religious  propagan- 
da, opposed  by  Vasishtha  ;  the 
schism  between  the  two 
schools,  318-322 

Vishvarilpa,  "  omniform,"  an 
epithet  of  Savitar,  245  ;  and 
of  Tvashtar,  246  ;  a  son  of 
Tvashtar,  249  ;  killed  by  In- 
dra, 250 

Vitasta,  Vedic  and  Epic  name  of 
the  Jhelum. 

Vivati/ivattt,  Eranian  equivalent 
of  Vivasvat. 

Vivasvat,  Eranian  Vivanhvant, 
the  father  of  Yama,  i8i  ; 
and  husband  of  Saranyu, 
father  of  the  Ashvins  and  of 
Manu ;  probably  the  Lumi- 
nous Sky ;  252-256 ;  title 
given  by  courtesy  to  sacri- 
ficers,  255 

Viyas,  see  Bias. 

Vritra,  cloud  demon  of  drought, 

VrttraMn — "killer  of  Vritra," 
title  of  Indra,  199 


INDEX. 


457 


Vydkarana  (Grammar),  one  of 
Vedangas,  125 

W 

"  War  of  the   Ten   Kings,   the, 

326-333       ^ 
Waters,  the  (Apas),  the  Mothers 
of  Agni,  162  ; — and  Rivers,  di- 
vinized, 265-267  ;  Cosmogonic, 

423  #• 

Wilkins,  Charles,  "Father  of 
Sanskrit  Studies,"  57  ;  his 
arduous  labors,  loo-ioi 

Woman,  Aryan  ;  her  exalted  po- 
sition in  Vedic  times,  367,  36S, 
372  ;  how  deteriorated  under 
later  Hinduism,  372,  373 

Words,  the  only  material  for  the 
reconstruction  of  early  Aryan 
life,  59,  60 ;  individual  San- 
skrit, ^traced  through  the  va- 
rious Aryan  languages,  ancient 
and  modern,  60-74 

World,  the  hidden,  "Navel  of 
the  Universe,"  424,  425 

Worlds,  the  two — Heaven, 
Earth,  136  ;  the  three,  Heaven, 
Earth  and  the  Atmosphere, 
144;  the  six,  the  seven,  etc., 
424,  425 

Y 


Yadu,    the ;  one   of   the 
Tribes,"  323,  324 


Five 


YajaviAnah,     the     patrons     for 
whose    benefit    sacrifices   are 
offered,  399 
Yajna,  see  Sacrifice. 

Yajur-Veda,  the  second  Veda, 
116 

Yak,  the  Himalaya  Cow,  36 

Yama,  the  king  of  the  dead  ; 
parallel  with  the  Eranian 
Yima,  181  ;  his  messengers, 
the  Sarameya  dogs,  182,  256, 
259,  357  ;  supposed  to  be  the 
setting  sun  ;  more  probably 
the  Moon,  183-185;  son  of 
Vivasvat,  181,  and  Saranyu, 
252,  255  ;  invoked  at  funerals, 
356,  357  ;  later  identified  with 
Mrityu  (Death)  and  made  the 
ruler  of  hells,  363 

Yami,  twin  sister  of  Yama,  252, 
7io1e 

Yamuna  (modern  Djumna),  men- 
tioned only  once  in  the  Rig- 
Veda,  267 

Yainshtha ,  a  surname   of  Agni, 

Yima,  Eranian  equivalent  of 
Yama. 

Z 

Zadadres,  Greek  name  of  the 
Sutledj. 

Zeus,  Zeus-pater,  Greek  equiva- 
lent of  Vedic  Dyaushpitar, 
137 


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